NEWS QUOTE from Lebanon: Save the Children welcomes ceasefire announcement but concerned by continued violence in Lebanon

BEIRUT, 26 November 2024– Save the Children welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah but said that the violence must stop immediately to protect children in Lebanon. 

An end to fighting was agreed on Tuesday, with media reporting that a cessation of hostilities would come into effect on Wednesday morning. The deal follows two months of intensified hostilities that have killed more than 3,800 people, including over 240 children. However, heavy bombing and further casualties continue to be reported from Lebanon today following Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s announcement of the deal.

Jennifer Moorehead, Save the Children’s Country Director in Lebanon said: 

 “We are deeply relieved that after two months of unimaginable violence, an agreement has finally been reached for an end to fighting. However, this needs to urgently come into effect to provide much-needed safety for children and their families. Reports of continued Israeli airstrikes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon are extremely alarming. Children and their families in Lebanon have already suffered too much. Over 400,000 children in Lebanon have been forcibly displaced and don’t have a home to go back to anymore. Over 1,400 children have been injured and need to recover. The school year has been disrupted for the sixth consecutive year and many families still lack the basic necessities such as food, access to drinking water and medical care.  Without an immediate cessation of violence, children’s safety remains at risk. The reported ceasefire needs to come into effect immediately. 

“As well as an immediate end to the violence, children also now urgently need life-saving humanitarian assistance as well as support to allow them and their families to rebuild their lives. We also need a lasting ceasefire in Gaza where a whole generation of children continues to bear the brunt of the conflict as the world watches. Lasting peace across the region is the only way to protect children from suffering, to safely get them critical aid, and to stop the conflict from escalating further across the region.”