WFP Launches Massive Emergency Operation to Feed One Million Displaced People Across Lebanon

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Sunday the launch of a major emergency food assistance operation across Lebanon, aiming to deliver immediate nutritional support to one million conflict-affected civilians. The surge follows a catastrophic wave of airstrikes across southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and the southern suburbs of Beirut, which has triggered the largest internal displacement crisis in the nation's modern history.

Lebanese authorities estimate that more than one million people have fled their homes over recent days, overwhelming makeshift shelters, public schools, municipal halls, and parks. Families packed what few belongings they could carry in cars and on foot, leaving behind livelihoods and access to basic food staples.

Rapid Mobilization of Hot Meals and Mobile Community Kitchens

In response, WFP has deployed rapid-response mobile kitchens, established daily cooked-meal distribution points, and contracted local bakeries to distribute fresh bread. Thousands of ready-to-eat ration boxes—containing canned beans, meat, tuna, and high-energy biscuits—are being delivered directly to collective shelters in Beirut, Mount Lebanon, Tripoli, and northern governorates.

WFP teams have already reached more than 200,000 individuals with emergency sustenance within the first 72 hours of the scaled-up response. In areas where commercial food retail remains operational, the agency is expanding electronic cash transfers, providing displaced families with dignity and purchasing autonomy while supporting local grocery markets.

“Lebanon is at a breaking point and cannot endure another crisis. WFP is on the ground delivering vital daily sustenance to hundreds of thousands who have fled with nothing.” — Matthew Hollingworth, WFP Lebanon Country Director

Funding Deficits and the Deepening Economic Vulnerability

The escalating hostilities strike a country already hollowed out by five years of severe financial depression, hyperinflation, and the collapse of public safety nets. WFP warned that its emergency pipeline requires at least $105 million in urgent donor commitments to sustain continuous food deliveries and logistics corridors through the end of the year.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reiterated calls for all parties to respect international humanitarian law, ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel, and establish safe corridors for aid convoys attempting to reach isolated communities cut off by bombing in the south.

Sources

• World Food Programme
• United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs