From a school-turned-shelter in the southern coastal city of Sidon, Lilian Jamaan described her family's Eid from a place of despair: "there's no joy for Eid or for Ramadan or for anything." Her words capture the scale of loss now engulfing Lebanon as one of Islam's most important holidays arrives under the shadow of military conflict.
As Ramadan draws to a close and Muslims prepare for Eid al-Fitr, Lebanon has reached a grim milestone: Israeli strikes have displaced more than 1 million people in the country, according to the Lebanese government. According to reports from across the region, this represents roughly 20% of the nation's entire population.
Lebanon's health ministry reports 968 people have been killed by Israeli strikes since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah renewed. The displacement began after the Iran-backed Hezbollah entered the wider Iran war by firing rockets at Israel, prompting heavy Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs.
The human toll extends far beyond statistics. For many like Jamaan, this is not a first displacement. Her daughter was born during an earlier wave of displacement from fighting halted by a tenuous ceasefire in November 2024. Israel continued launching near-daily strikes in Lebanon after that ceasefire, claiming they aimed to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding.
Normally, Jamaan would have been shopping for clothes for her daughter and buying meat and sweets in preparation for Eid al-Fitr that marks the end of Ramadan. Instead, families in shelters across Sidon and other southern towns are struggling to meet basic needs. "A lot of the kids I spoke to, their biggest wish was to just spend Eid at home," said Basma Alloush, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee. "Eid is a time where all families come together, people celebrate with their relatives, and it usually brings a lot of peace and joy to families."
The humanitarian response is straining under unprecedented demand. The UN World Food Programme has provided more than half a million hot meals to displaced people in shelters across Lebanon since March 2. Yet aid agencies report critical shortages in every category. "There is a dire need for shelter," Alloush said. "There was a massive thunderstorm. We're just thinking about the people that were sleeping outside, sleeping in tents that are not waterproof, sleeping on the mud."
"Lebanon for us is really now the epicenter of the more immediate humanitarian fallout of this broader regional crisis," said Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the UN World Food Programme. "People here have endured crisis after crisis."
Sidon has become a focal point for displaced populations, with schools and community centres transformed into makeshift shelters. The suffering has played out during Ramadan with scenes of people forced to flee their homes, reduced to sleeping in tents on the streets or in their cars. Some secured coveted spots in schools turned into shelters or stayed with relatives; many others scrambled to find makeshift arrangements.
For those managing to maintain religious observance, the experience is shadowed by loss. Online, volunteers, organisations and businesses have been sharing initiatives to make, package and distribute hot meals for iftar and donate essentials from blankets and clothes to formula milk and medications. Yet these efforts, however generous, cannot replace the social cohesion and family gatherings that define the holiday.
The conflict now extends well beyond Lebanon's borders, with broader regional implications for energy markets and supply chains affecting economies across Asia and beyond. However, the focus here remains on those facing the immediate, grinding reality of displacement: families separated from homes, children with no toys, communities stripped of the basic dignity to celebrate their faith.