The UK Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, has announced over £5 million in additional emergency humanitarian funding to support vulnerable and displaced civilians across Lebanon. The funding will be delivered through partners including the World Food Programme (WFP), the Lebanese Red Cross via the British Red Cross, and the UN OCHA Lebanon Humanitarian Fund. Cooper warned of the widening conflict in Lebanon, which has already caused civilian casualties and mass displacement, and emphasized the need for urgent humanitarian action.
The UK’s funding package responds to the Flash Appeal for Lebanon launched on 13 March and will be coordinated closely with the Government of Lebanon. It includes support for the Ministry of Social Affairs’ National Shock Response Safety Net emergency programme via WFP, additional medical supplies and relief items through the Lebanese Red Cross, and aid via the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund to assist thousands of displaced families. The programme also adapts ongoing UK humanitarian efforts to provide immediate lifesaving assistance to affected communities.
Emergency relief initiatives include the distribution of 1,000 ready-to-eat meals, 2,500 hygiene kits, 1,000 blankets, and 2,500 fuel vouchers to displaced people through the Lebanese Red Cross. The International Organisation for Migration will provide core relief items to 6,000 displaced individuals in shelters. UNFPA, together with NGOs including Caritas, Fe-Male, and Akkarouna, will deliver emergency Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services, including via a Mobile Medical Unit. UNICEF will provide emergency education supplies for over 120,000 children and dignity kits for 10,000 adolescent girls in collective shelters.
Additional UK support includes strengthening frontline GBV response in shelters with ABAAD NGO, providing on-the-job coaching for Ministry of Social Affairs social workers and primary healthcare staff, and delivering 500 meals daily to displaced Lebanese and Palestinian families in five collective shelters in Beirut. British Ambassador to Lebanon Hamish Cowell emphasized that the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of people is unacceptable, stressing the need to protect civilians, healthcare workers, frontline responders, and civilian infrastructure. The UK continues to coordinate closely with the Government of Lebanon and humanitarian partners to ensure aid reaches those most in need.
