The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), a member of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, is responding to the crisis in Lebanon through its Inter-church Network on Development and Relief (ICNDR)—a crisis sparked by Hezbolla’s capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid last week. Today marks the fourteenth day that Israeli forces have been bombing targets in its neighbouring country.

MECC’s general secretary, Guirgis Saleh, writes in an update today that the situation remains critical in the country with the displacement of people from the southern towns and villages continuing. Mr. Saleh also reports that the ‘safe humanitarian corridors’ that had been promised have not yet materialised.

"Lebanese civilians residing in so-called ‘safer areas’ or districts, have mobilised themselves, volunteering to assist and offer all kinds of help to the displaced, hoping to receive rapid aid from local or international organisations," he writes.

Some 100,000 people have sought refuge in churches in monasteries, as well as in church-owned property, such as schools, and Mr. Saleh writes that the Patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch has opened its monasteries of St. Mary of Saydnaya, St. Takla in Maalula and St. Paul in Tal-Kokab in Syria to offer shelter to people from Lebanon who are fleeing the conflict.

Two staff of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)—also a member of ACT International—are in Lebanon to support MECC in its provision of water and sanitation, and one of the team members, Tor Valla, reports that although people can access water, the existing sanitation facilities may not be adequate.

At least 3,000 people have sought refuge in eight different schools in eastern Beirut’s Ashrafiyyeh area. One of the schools, Salma Sayegh, is refuge to 300 people, all of whom are on water rations, receiving only eight litres per day from the Lebanese civil defence authority, supplemented by water from a private company. Specific requests have been made to the NCA-ACT staff, who visited the school, for hygiene and kitchen items. Valla writes that although the latrines are functioning, the situation is quite dire, as the facilities are reaching the limits of their capacity.

The other area where hundreds of people have sought shelter is Sanayeh Park in eastern Beirut—the same park where people sheltered during the war in the 80s. It was the first place people fled to again, as the first bombardments started two weeks ago.

The ACT Coordinating Office (CO) is sending a rapid response team to the country, and is working with MECC, which is in the process of finalising a preliminary appeal to respond to the crisis.