Lilian Jamaan would normally have been shopping for clothes for her daughter and buying meat and sweets to prepare for Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday marking the end of Ramadan. But this year, displaced from her home and living in a school-turned-shelter in Sidon, she said: “There’s no joy for Eid or for Ramadan or for anything.”
As the holy month draws to a close, Lebanon has crossed a grim milestone: Israeli strikes have displaced more than 1 million people, according to the Lebanese government, and killed at least 968 since hostilities resumed between Israel and Hezbollah. The Iran-backed group entered the wider conflict by firing rockets at Israel, prompting heavy bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Basma Alloush, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee, said many children she spoke to wished simply to spend Eid at home. “Eid is a time where all families come together ... It could be that many of them just spend Eid in shelters, in displacement.” Only about 130,000 of the displaced are in official shelters; others sleep in tents, cars, or makeshift arrangements.
Jamaan said the harsh conditions have forced her to stop fasting. “Some people fast and some are unable to fast; there’s psychological stress and we’re not sleeping well.” She and her daughter sleep in the school while her husband sleeps in the car. Asmahan Taleb, also displaced in Sidon, asked: “How can we celebrate Eid when we’re displaced from our homes and our land? Where is the Eid? Where is the happiness?”
Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the UN World Food Programme, said Lebanon is now “the epicentre of the more immediate humanitarian fallout of this broader regional crisis.” He noted that people are exhausted from repeated displacement and that funding is not coming forward as it did before. WFP has provided more than half a million hot meals to displaced people since March 2.
Online, many volunteers and organisations are sharing initiatives to distribute hot meals for iftar and donate essentials like blankets, clothes, and medication. But for many, the festive spirit of Eid remains out of reach. As Taleb put it: “It will be Eid when we can return to our homes.”
