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From the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, spokesperson Jens Laerke described chaotic scenes across Lebanon as people continued to flee airstrikes that have killed\u00a0 more than 1,000 people in the past two weeks alone, according to the UN human rights office, OHCHR.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should expect further displacement<\/strong>,\u201d Mr. Laerke told journalists in Geneva.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not have enough supplies, we do not have enough capacity and that\u2019s exactly why we are launching this appeal because we need this additional injection of funds to actually procure it and capacities in place to increase the response which is not where it should be, because we are, as usual, running after the facts,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s easy to break things and hurt people but getting them back to some sort of normality takes a long time and costs a lot of money. So that\u2019s why we need to stop this development and de-escalate this conflict<\/strong> as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)\u00a0said that it had been informed on Monday about the Israeli military\u2019s plans for \u201climited ground incursions\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite this dangerous development, peacekeepers remain in position<\/strong>,\u201d the UN force said in a statement. \u201cWe are regularly adjusting our posture and activities, and we have contingency plans ready to activate if absolutely necessary. Peacekeeper safety and security is paramount, and all actors are reminded of their obligation to respect it.\u201d<\/p>\n UNIFIL has around 10,500 peacekeepers from 50 troop-contributing countries<\/strong>. The Mission carries out some 14,500 activities per month, according to its website.<\/p>\n In a statement issued in response to the escalating emergency, the UN Mission highlighted that any Israeli crossing into Lebanon would be \u201cin violation of Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a violation of resolution 1701\u201d<\/strong> issued by the Security Council in 2006 aimed at stopping the war between Israel and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n \u201cWe urge all actors to step back from such escalatory acts, which will only lead to more violence and more bloodshed,\u201d UNIFIL said.<\/p>\n Echoing those concerns, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, warned that the widening hostilities in the Middle East had the potential \u201cto engulf the entire region in a humanitarian and human rights catastrophe\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cToo many innocent children, women and men have been killed, and too much destruction has been exacted,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In addition to the more than one million people displaced in Lebanon, repeated shelling of northern Israel by Hezbollah that began in response to the Israeli war in Gaza has uprooted some 60,000 people, said OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell.<\/p>\n \u201cWith armed violence between Israel and Hezbollah boiling over, the consequences for civilians have already been terrible \u2013 and we fear a large-scale ground invasion by Israel into Lebanon would only result in greater suffering<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cAll parties to these conflicts must clearly distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian objects in the way they conduct hostilities. They must do all they can to protect the lives of civilians, their homes, and the infrastructure essential to their daily existence, as clearly required by international humanitarian law.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile in Gaza, almost a year since war erupted following Hamas-led terror attacks on multiple sites in Israel, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA, described enormous needs among civilians.<\/p>\n \u201cI can express on behalf of people who speak to me that that they do feel forgotten, and they do feel that their needs are not as important as others and what they need, just basic things food, water, shelter, are completely overlooked in in such devastating circumstances,\u201d said UNRWA spokesperson Louise Wateridge.<\/p>\nUN force \u2018in position\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Middle East tinderbox<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Gaza crisis as bad as ever<\/strong><\/h2>\n