A mother sheltering with her newborn twins in a crowded displacement center in Lebanon has described the moment her home was destroyed in an attack, telling the BBC, "Our home was bombed, and everything I had prepared for the children was gone."
Ghada, who is among more than one million people displaced within Lebanon, now sleeps alongside her infants and approximately 2,000 others in a university building converted into a shelter in the southern city of Sidon. She said she was warned to evacuate her home ahead of planned Israeli military strikes.
Sidon, Lebanon's third-largest city and a gateway to the country's south, has absorbed a significant portion of the internal displacement caused by the ongoing conflict between Israel and the armed group Hezbollah. Many families arriving there have fled areas where Hezbollah maintains strong support.
The displacement follows intensified Israeli attacks on Hezbollah positions across Lebanon. In March, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced plans to establish a buffer zone inside southern Lebanon, asserting Israeli security control over a section of territory and stating that all houses in Lebanese villages near the border would be demolished.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for Israel's assassination of Iran's supreme leader at the onset of the broader Iran war. Israel responded by sending ground troops into Lebanon and launching attacks across the country. Despite a ceasefire agreement in 2024, Israel had been conducting near-daily strikes on Hezbollah, accusing the group of attempting to rebuild its military capabilities.