UNICEF: Displaced Lebanese need more than a ceasefire to return home

UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said on Friday (April 24) that a ceasefire alone was not enough for displaced Lebanese families to return home, citing destroyed homes, damaged hospitals and a lack of accountability for attacks on civilian infrastructure.

"If your home has been turned to rubble, or if your home is now occupied, or you know, if you're simply going back to an area where the only hospital can't function anymore, all these things are making it very difficult for people, even with a ceasefire", he said during an interview with Reuters at a school-turned-shelter in Beirut.

In its latest report published on April 16, UNICEF said that approximately 11,839 children and caregivers have been receiving community-based psychosocial support in shelters and community spaces, in addition to recreational activities to strengthen well-being, resilience, and social cohesion.

Elder, who spent a few hours at a school-turned-shelter in Beirut, where he played basketball with displaced children, said years of what UNICEF called indiscriminate attacks had eroded trust in ceasefires.

He pointed to the April 8 attacks in which he said dozens of children were killed in ten minutes, saying such events left people unsure where was safe. He called the situation a consequence of a lack of accountability on Israel. The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment about UNICEF labelling the attacks 'indiscriminate'.

Lebanon's Hezbollah said a U.S.-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaningless a day after it was extended for three weeks, as Lebanese authorities reported two people killed by an Israeli strike and Hezbollah downed an Israeli drone.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the three-week extension on Thursday (April 23) after hosting Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors at the White House. The ceasefire agreement between the governments of Lebanon and Israel had been due to expire on Sunday (April 26).

Nearly 2,500 people have been killed, and more than 1.2 million have been forced to flee in Lebanon since March 2, Lebanese authorities said.

Production: Emilie Madi, Joelle Kozaily/Reuters