Lebanon faces potential disease outbreak amid Israel bombardment, WHO warns

An official from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of a potential outbreak of diseases in Lebanon due to the closure of hospitals and overcrowding in displacement shelters, amid Israel’s escalating assault on the country.

Speaking to a press briefing in the Swiss city of Geneva via video link from Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Tuesday, the WHO’s deputy incident manager for Lebanon, Ian Clarke, said: “We are facing a situation where there is a much higher risk of disease outbreaks, such as acute watery diarrhoea, hepatitis A, and a number of vaccine-preventable diseases.”

The primary reasons for the exacerbated risk of the spread of diseases, according to Clarke, are the fact that hospitals throughout Lebanon have increasingly been forced to shut down as medics have either fled Israel’s bombardment or been asked by Lebanese authorities to evacuate.

The reported increased risks of disease outbreaks and a health crisis are the latest threat the Lebanese population could face amid Israel’s ground invasion and ongoing bombing of areas in Lebanon, damaging not only the country’s infrastructure but also its healthcare system.

On 23 September, Israel launched its biggest bombing campaign on Lebanon in almost 20 years, displacing 1.2 million civilians while destroying large areas of southern Lebanon and southern boroughs of the capital.

Read: Lebanon appeals for international pressure to halt Israeli attacks on medics, hospitals