Situation Update

Attacks on healthcare continue unabated, constituting a grave violation of International Humanitarian Law and a clear breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2286, which obliges all parties to protect health personnel and facilities. Since the renewed hostilities, the Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA) has recorded 92 attacks, resulting in 53 deaths and 137 injuries among healthcare workers. These attacks place frontline responders at extreme risk and are also eroding health-seeking behaviour, as communities increasingly fear accessing health facilities.

This loss of trust in the safety of healthcare services is deeply alarming and poses serious risks to timely care-seeking, continuity of treatment, and overall public health outcomes.

Since 02 March 2026, Lebanon’s health system has been under sustained pressure, with 50% of casualties treated in emergency departments, 43% admitted to wards, and 7% to ICUs. Children and women each represent 10% of casualties, further straining overstretched emergency, surgical, ICU, and paediatric services, while critically limited NICU capacity has forced hospitals to expand beds or refer cases externally.

Partners have also noted significant shifts in service-demand patterns. In Saida and Beirut, NICU admissions for Syrian newborns have sharply declined compared to the first two weeks of the escalation, while NICU caseloads have risen substantially in the North. Concurrently, hospitals are reporting an increase in Lebanese children presenting without identification documents, possibly as an attempt to access MoPH coverage.

Supported by Health Sector partners, the PHC Satellite Units (PSUs) continue to expand their outreach beyond collective shelters, with teams delivering services and conducting health awareness activities across all governorates. Thirty-nine PSUs are currently fully operational, primarily serving populations in the South and Nabatieh governorates, and additional units are in the process of being mobilized.

Overcrowded shelters and suboptimal available services are increasing the risk of communicable disease outbreaks, with frequent reports of skin conditions such as lice and scabies. These trends underscore the need for sustained shelter-based disease surveillance and strengthened rapid response capacity to enable early detection and timely public health interventions.