angry refugees, “some suck people’s blood and take advantage of the situation”

Forced to leave the south of the country because of Israeli bombings, Lebanese people reach Beirut and seek accommodation in difficult conditions.

For the fourth consecutive day, the Israeli army carried out dozens of strikes in Lebanon this Thursday. According to her, 75 Hezbollah military objectives were targeted. 92 people died and 153 others were injured during the day, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. For its part, Hezbollah said it had fired around a hundred rockets at the cities of Safed and Haifa in northern Israel.

While France and the United States called this Wednesday for an “immediate 21-day ceasefire” to “give diplomacy a chance”, Benjamin Netanyahu assured that the IDF would continue its fight against Hezbollah “with all the force necessary. Emmanuel Macron considered that it would be “a mistake” to refuse this ceasefire. France is opposed to Lebanon “becoming a new Gaza” declared the President of the Republic during a trip to Canada.

Exploding prices

In the meantime, the situation is getting worse for the Lebanese, with more than 700 dead and 90,000 people displaced since Monday according to the UN. This is the largest population displacement since 2006 and the 33-day war. Displaced people from southern Lebanon are settling in Beirut as best they can.

Mohammed and his family jumped in their car and drove away, with nothing. Not a bag and hours of driving for six people, with a baby. Upon arrival in Beirut, it is the beginning of a long wandering. “I filmed for 10 hours, I went to every corner of the city,” he tells RMC. “The first night, we ended up sleeping in the car. And finally the next day, I I found a school to settle in.”

Some mattresses and donations for food. The father stiffens: “I’m so angry, I feel helpless. Rich people go to hotels, people without means like me go to schools.”

“My heart will remain in Lebanon”

In front of the hotels, families still parade looking for a room. Everything is sold out or overpriced, Ali fumes: “Some people suck people’s blood and take advantage of the situation. An apartment that was worth 400 dollars before, they are now offering it for 2,000! And you have to pay four months in advance “.

At 21, the young man is hooked to his phone, waiting for news from those who wanted to stay in his village. His father calls: “There’s an air raid, planes overhead.” A goodbye, a prayer: “I hope he stays alive.”

And a turning point for Ali: “Me, I prefer to leave, I don’t want to die, I have to build my future”. He can pay for his hotel room until his plane leaves for Turkey. But “my heart will remain in Lebanon,” he says.

Nicolas Ropert and Marion Gauthier