“It is a area that has already been devastated by battle and a rustic that is aware of struggling all too nicely,” Saltmarsh mentioned.
He identified that even earlier than the air strikes, there had been important displacement from southern Lebanon.
“The scenario is extraordinarily alarming. It is vitally chaotic,” he mentioned.
“The toll on civilians is unacceptable.”
Monday’s assaults got here after an Israeli strike on southern Beirut on Friday killed dozens, together with two senior Hezbollah commanders. Days earlier, coordinated communications machine blasts that Hezbollah blamed on Israel killed 39 individuals and wounded nearly 3,000.
Since final week, almost 6,400 individuals had been injured in Lebanon, based on the WHO.
“The hospitals have been loopy challenged in managing the variety of accidents since final week,” WHO’s consultant in Lebanon, Abdinasir Abubakar, instructed reporters.
Talking by video from Beirut, he mentioned greater than 90 p.c of the injuries suffered final week when pagers utilized by Hezbollah exploded throughout Lebanon “are on the face and limbs, particularly palms”.
“Many individuals had each eye and hand accidents, which required two totally different units of operations,” he mentioned.
“This isn’t regular,” insisted Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN rights workplace.
“When you might have individuals shedding their eyes and when you might have hospitals not ready to deal with the quantity of amputations that they should perform … (it) is extraordinarily irregular.”
She mentioned the rights workplace was “extraordinarily alarmed by the sharp escalation of hostilities”, calling on “all events to instantly stop the violence and to make sure the safety of civilians”.
The UN kids’s company decried the influence on younger individuals in Lebanon.
“We’re warning right now that any additional escalation on this battle will likely be completely catastrophic for all kids in Lebanon,” mentioned Ettie Higgins, UNICEF deputy consultant in Lebanon, talking from Beirut.
“Yesterday was Lebanon’s worst day in 18 years. This violence has to cease instantly, or the results will likely be unconscionable.”
