A representative for the UN's refugee agency told Euronews that Europe could be seen as a refuge amid fears of a growing humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle East, prompted by the conflict between Israel, Iran, Lebanon and Hamas.
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00:00The United Nations is warning of a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the Middle East following
00:0510 days of strikes on Lebanon.
00:10Lebanese are finding themselves displaced and they have been crossing into neighboring
00:14war-torn Syria.
00:18The United Nations Refugee Agency's representative in Lebanon told Euronews that people might
00:22try to reach Europe, despite the high costs and risks for those fleeing.
00:27Logistically, from a safety point of view, not easy to go anywhere else but flee within
00:38Lebanon or go to Syria because otherwise the options would be going towards Cyprus and
00:47Europe by boat and that is logistically difficult, less safe and for many also extremely expensive.
00:55I heard quite ridiculous high prices that one now has to pay in order to get on a boat
01:03to Europe.
01:04According to Lebanese authorities, almost one million people have been displaced, which
01:09is approximately 20% of the country's entire population.
01:14Lebanon is also home to 1.5 million Syrian refugees and has a dire political and economic
01:19situation.
01:20The UN has called for financial support to ensure basic life-sustaining services and
01:25infrastructure.
01:26All our programs, UNHCR, the refugee agency, with many other organizations, we all need
01:33money.
01:34We launched an appeal together with the government earlier this week, 425 million is desperately
01:40needed in a range of sectors across agencies.
01:45Last Sunday, the European Commission announced 10 million euros in humanitarian aid.
01:50The EU has also repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza and now in Lebanon.
01:57There we have no influence as humanitarians, we can only indicate what the consequences
02:02are of decisions not being taken, things not changing and if that is the case then we need
02:08to all brace ourselves for an increasingly large and precarious humanitarian catastrophe.
02:14The Israeli military said the ground operation in Lebanon was aimed at destroying infrastructure
02:19used by Hezbollah and it had no plans for a wider operation.
02:27But the Iranian missile strike on Israel on Tuesday night leaves the future of the conflict