Israel’s attack on Lebanon killed 310 children and wounded more than 1,500 [Getty]
One in four children in Lebanon are currently unable to attend school as the country continues to deal with the fallout from Israel‘s devastating war against Hezbollah and a crippling economic crisis.
In total, more than half a million children are out of school, even weeks into the ceasefire that came into effect in November.
The figures come from a Unicef survey conducted in January 2025 to assess the impact of the war on the country’s children.
The grim results were shared on Friday at a press briefing by the charity’s deputy representative in Lebanon Ettie Higgins.
Israel killed thousands of Lebanese civilians during its 11-month war with the Lebanese Shia group and laid waste to dozens of towns and villages in the country’s south and eastern provinces.
More than 310 Lebanese children were killed in the violence, and more than 1,500 were wounded.
Many schools were destroyed or heavily damaged during the war, and hundreds were used as shelters for thousands of internally displaced people.
Children in eastern Lebanon – one of the areas of the country where Israeli bombardment was particularly intense – are suffering particularly gravely.
The number of children in the region under the age of two experiencing severe food poverty has more than doubled to 51% over the past year.
The conflict exacerbated an already difficult situation for Lebanon’s education system, which was still reeling from the effects of the economic crisis, a wave of teacher strikes, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The situation is likely to deteriorate further in the coming months on the back of several Western governments cutting back on foreign aid.
“This means the reality for many children here is even more dire than these figures suggest,” Higgins said.
Half a million children and their families are at risk of losing critical financial support from UN agencies.
“These cuts will strip the most vulnerable of their last lifeline, leaving them unable to afford even the most basic necessities and pushing them deeper into poverty,” she said.
