June 5, 2026 | 07:23 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The United Nations has more than doubled the amount of funding it says is needed to help Lebanon tackle a humanitarian crisis as the war between Israel and Hezbollah enters its fourth month.In a fresh appeal on Friday, the UN said it was seeking an additional $331.5 million (€285 million) to reach 1.4 million people in need of aid.The UN had appealed for $308 million in March to support a massive emergency response led by Lebanon's government through to the end of May. As of May 31, it said it had received only $185.9 million, which was used to provided assistance to 680,000 people.It said it would more than double the initial appeal amount, bringing the total to $639.9 million, in order to reach all of the estimated 1.4 million people in Lebanon who need aid. "The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon is severe and deteriorating," the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said."Repeated displacements, insufficient shelter capacity and limited prospects for safe return are deepening vulnerability," it added, warning that "affected people are rapidly exhausting their coping capacities, and essential services are under increasing strain."Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war at the start of March when the Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader.Israel responded by sending troops into Lebanon and launching a major bombing campaign.More than 3,500 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon since early March, with nearly a million displaced, according to Lebanese authorities. Israel says 26 of its soldiers and four civilians have been killed in Hezbollah attacks over the same period.Read: Netanyahu Says Israel Seeking to Control 70% of GazaClick here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
