dpa
Beirut
Nearly 14,000 pregnant women in Lebanon have been affected by the war between Israel and the Hezbollah militia, according to a report published on Wednesday by the UN human rights office.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that around 1,500 of them are due to give birth in the coming weeks, according to recent data.
In general, the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse of women is high in the overcrowded shelters in Lebanon, it said.
According to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), fighting in Lebanon has displaced some 880,000 people within the country. Another 470,000 have fled across the border into neighbouring Syria, where a civil war broke out in 2011.
OCHA has appealed to international donors for $426 million to provide essential support to those affected in Lebanon. To date, only about a quarter of this target has been raised.
Meanwhile, at least six people died and 15 others were injured when Israeli jets struck a building to the south of Beirut in the early hours of Wednesday, eyewitnesses reported.
Images showed that several floors of the building in the Aley district were severely damaged in the pre-dawn bombing raid.
Residents said they had spent the night outdoors for fear of further attacks. “These days, you have to know who your neighbours are,” one resident told DPA in reference to members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia being targeted by Israeli forces.
Hezbollah members have been buying homes in the area in recent years.
The Israeli military reported attacks on Hezbollah arms depots and command centres in Dahieh in the south of Beirut.
It called once more on residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate ahead of further attacks.
At least 78 people were killed and 122 wounded on Tuesday in Lebanon, the Ministry of Health has said in its latest update.
The total toll since the beginning of the hostilities on October 8 now stands at 3,365 killed and 14,344 injured.
