For children and young people like Amal, life has been torn apart without any warning. Ordinary moments like sitting in a bedroom, preparing for school, laughing with friends, have been replaced by fear and uncertainty.
“I have been forced to leave my home and my bedroom and lose everything I own in an instant in the most unexpected of ways.”
Families are fleeing as violence spreads, often with only minutes to gather what they can carry. The urgency leaves no time for goodbyes.
“People are dying and are being forced to leave their homes because of the bombing, because of everything that is happening,” Amal says.
The human toll continues to rise, with over 107 children among those killed and 254 injured. Physical survival has become the only priority.
“Even the most basic rights are denied to us. We can't sleep, we can't live our normal lives, we are constantly afraid. Many things are difficult. We can't even [afford to] eat.”
Many families who have had to flee their homes are sheltering wherever they can, including crowded into relatives’ homes and in schools or community buildings which have been converted into emergency shelters. For children, these unfamiliar environments deepen the sense of loss and trauma. Children who once played in their neighbourhoods or walked to school are now finding themselves far from the routines they once knew.
“And the simplest things that we need as children is to be able to learn,” Amal says. “We are deprived of learning and we cannot get an education or achieve our dreams.”
With schools closed, education slips out of reach. The structure and hope it once provided are gone.
“Every day we wake up to news of people we love and want in our lives dying. This is very difficult, being exposed to these things and scenes every day. No one has the heart to bear this.”
Amal’s story is not unique. It is the reality of children across Lebanon right now.
War Child and our local partners are supporting families across 40 shelters in Lebanon by registering families, distributing meals, providing vital child protection services, and delivering mental health and wellbeing support for children. But with around 1 million people displaced, including 290,000 children, the need is immense.
