Maggie Tookey, field operations director for Edinburgh Direct Aid International, has told how it is creating a humanitarian crisis in Beirut where she helps refugees.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
An aid worker for a Scottish charity has told of the horror of life under Israeli missile bombardment in Lebanon as refugee families battle to survive. At least 2,475 people have been killed in attacks since the latest war began and more than 7500 wounded, the country’s health authorities have said.
The number includes at least 274 women and 177 children and about 100 medical workers are said to have been killed. More than a million people have been forced from their homes in southern Lebanon where Israel has begun seizing land as part of its escalating conflict with Hezbollah.
And Maggie Tookey, field operations director for Edinburgh Direct Aid International, has told how it is creating a humanitarian crisis in Beirut where she helps refugees. She said: “The situation generally all over Lebanon is worsening.
(Image: HANDOUT)
“Many thousands of displaced people are flooding into Beirut but also moving north to Tripoli and Akaar, as shelters fill to capacity here. All hotels in the city are full except apart from the few five-star ones, which don’t seem to have lowered their prices to accommodate desperate people.
“Security at all shelters is paramount because the danger of taking in someone connected with Hezbollah can mean a death sentence here. This has been the case several times this week. Collateral damage in the form of extra innocent deaths is built in to the Israeli hit plan.
“The last figures were that 700,000 were displaced and most heading for Beirut, however that is likely to have risen in the last three days. The Israelis have now issued widespread evacuation orders which cover around 14 per cent of all Lebanese territory.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“From the Israeli border up to the Zahrani River around Sidon is now considered a target zone and since March 13, evacuation orders have been expanded to include this area. Before this date, the evacuation area had reached the Litani River further south.
“Now the targeting of cars and buildings in and around central and West Beirut has begun and leaflets were dropped over us all in West Beirut showing a picture of a decimated Gaza laced with text which threatens a similar fate for Beirut if the Lebanese army and government don’t force Hezbollah to disarm. This is a dream – the government are in disarray and the army are hopelessly weak and ill equipped to carry out such a task.
“Hezbollah is seizing the moment. It’s much weakened by Israeli attacks but in a broadcast from some secret bunker, a fiery and uncompromising speech was delivered by its leader, Naim Qassem, confirming continued attacks and total disregard for the Israelis’ demands and those of the Lebanese government.
“No area of the city is safe any longer. People are frightened, including me.”
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Maggie, 75, has risked her life working for Edinburgh Aid Direct the world’s most dangerous conflict zones in the past 23 years. She added: “Work, which has been much interrupted by Israeli bombing, includes supplying food and hygiene equipment to displaced people living out in the open and the supply of sleeping mats and blankets.
“Edinburgh Direct Aid International are doing as much as we can, including setting up a day care school and kindergarten in a special room above some shop shelters. For now there are 70 children between three and 16, but this is rising daily.
“Baby formula, and nappies are in constant demand. Purchasing these items isn’t easy. City centre prices are very hig h and the supply is almost nonexistent.
“Driving to the outer suburbs where all these things can be bought for a fraction of the price is the obvious thing to do but not easy. These can be more popular areas for targeting by Israeli planes and the traffic density makes these journeys by car take many hours as people are rushing back to their damaged or even destroyed houses to salvage what they can before the next Israeli warning to get out.
“For the last three days I’ve travelled on the pillion of a powerful motor scooter, weaving in and out of lines of cars and lorries and another million scooter riders all trying to do the same thing. This is carried out without a helmet with eyes mostly shut and a firm grip on the side bars. It’s the only way but it’s truly exhausting.
“The upside is that we get lots of really good materials for a hugely reduced price as long as we can stay alive.”
(Image: HANDOUT)
Lebanon’s prime minister Nawaf Salam last week accused Israel of war crimes after air strikes killed journalist Amal Khalil, who worked for a Lebanese newspaper, and injured freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.
Lebanese officials say they were targeted as they sought shelter after an air strike hit the vehicle in front of them, killing two men. They also accused the Israel Defense Forces of targeting a marked ambulance as it tried to reach the pair. The IDF denied that and said it did not target journalists.
Israel has been responsible for two-thirds of a record 129 press killings in 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
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