How Israel’s destruction of south Lebanon is making displacement permanent

Beirut, Lebanon – More than six months after Israel intensified its war on Lebanon, a displacement crisis is slowly solidifying.

At its highest point in April, more than 1.2 million people were displaced by Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Today, the figure stands at about 330,000, according to estimates by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – but humanitarian workers say the drop should not be interpreted as permanent or even durable.

Nadine Mazloum, of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said displacement patterns remain “highly fluid and often reversible” due to the possibility of renewed attacks.

While the “overall number of displaced people has fallen substantially from the peak of more than 1.2 million, that should not be mistaken for a resolution of the crisis”, she added.

Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been fighting since October 2023, with varying levels of intensity.

On March 2, 2026, Hezbollah responded to continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon for the first time in more than a year, saying it was in retaliation for more than 10,000 violations of a 2024 ceasefire and for the assassination two days earlier of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the United States-Israel war on Iran.

Israel then intensified its air attacks on Lebanon, while also reinvading southern Lebanon for the second time in less than two years. It currently occupies more than 50 villages.

The offensive has killed more than 4,380 people and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes – predominantly in southern Lebanon but also in the eastern Bekaa Valley and parts of the capital, Beirut, and its southern suburbs.

Displaced people took shelter wherever they could. In Beirut, some set up tents along the waterfront or corniche, or rented apartments in neighbourhoods deemed safer. But many of the displaced were also attacked, including in double-tap strikes.

A series of ceasefire announcements and a June framework agreement, which came after direct, US-sponsored talks between Israel and Lebanon, has not stopped the Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon.

However, bombardment on the rest of the country has eased, with more than 810,000 people either returning home or to places nearby – often to damaged houses with destroyed infrastructure.

One of them is Soujoud Ramadan, a woman from Froun, a town on a so-called “Yellow Line” – a military zone claimed by Israel that stretches roughly 10km (6 miles) north of the Lebanon-Israel border.

Froun was included in June’s framework deal under which Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from “pilot zones” and the Lebanese army was intended to enter and disarm Hezbollah.

While much of Froun lies in rubble from Israeli air attacks, the Israeli military has not set foot in the town since 2024.

Ramadan has returned to her village, but with her home in ruins, she is staying at the local school, which is operating as a shelter for the displaced.

“We came back after the ceasefire,” she said, sitting in front of a small makeshift corner store she manages at the school’s entrance. “We came back because this land is our land and it is impossible for us to give it up.”

Despite their resilience and determination, UNHCR’s Mazloum said many returnees are still not living in complete stability.

“The reality is that many households continue to move between locations as conditions change, making displacement and return part of an ongoing cycle rather than a one-time event,” Mazloum said.

Over time, the impacts of prolonged displacement also compound, extending beyond the immediate needs for food and shelter.

“Many are facing a different set of challenges centred on exhaustion, instability and the gradual erosion of coping mechanisms,” Mazloum said. “Savings have been depleted, debts have accumulated and support networks are increasingly stretched. Families that have been paying rent for months often face mounting financial pressure at the same time that livelihoods remain disrupted.”

According to the latest IOM data, some 80 percent of displaced people are concentrated in five districts: Beirut hosts about 31 percent of the displaced, while Sidon, Tyre, Chouf and Aley host 15 percent, 14 percent, 11 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

The data also said 17,566 registered displaced people live in 184 collective sites, though that number has likely spiked in recent weeks, particularly with the intensification of Israeli attacks on southern areas, including in the city of Nabatieh. Of the displaced, some 75 percent are living in rented accommodation.

“This area has suffered greatly from the war,” Kamel Jaber, a journalist from Nabatieh, told Al Jazeera about the recent attacks on his city. “Hundreds of shops, warehouses and other [infrastructure] have been destroyed.”

He said that after the 2024 ceasefire, business returned to Nabatieh, but the resumption of the war has devastated the area’s infrastructure and economy. He also said locals began to feel “great anxiety and despair seep into their hearts” as the war has carried on without an end in sight.

Multiple videos have gone viral in recent weeks showing Israeli demolitions in southern villages, with dust shooting into the sky as explosions go off.

Al Jazeera visited the “Yellow Line” in early September and heard loud explosions every few minutes – what locals said were detonations of houses and other infrastructure on the other side of the zone.

Witnesses who have been able to go south of the “Yellow Line” say the closer to the border with Israel, the more widespread the damage is.

Maureen Philippon, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s country director in Lebanon, said that on a journey south, she passed through villages where there is “not one single standing wall”.

She said that after the 2024 ceasefire, many locals from southern villages close to the border returned home, but a “significant number had to flee again” after the resumption of attacks.

“Today they are not envisioning any returns,” said Philippon, warning that “these cycles of violence and damage” add a heavy “psychological weight” for many of the displaced.

With lost livelihoods, destroyed homes and little security or stability to have the confidence to rebuild, many Lebanese straddle displacement while others see theirs become entrenched.

Reports have recently circulated that Israel may pull back to a so-called “Grey Line” that extends up to 4km (2.5 miles) into Lebanese territory. That would mean the border villages would likely stay uninhabited and extend the displacement of the people from those areas. For those from further north, they may return to areas that have been completely demolished, leaving them without a home, electricity, or water infrastructure.

Experts are warning that the permanence of displacement in Lebanon, caused by Israel’s continued war, has far-reaching consequences.

“Humanitarian assistance remains essential, but so too are debris removal, rehabilitation of homes, restoration of public services, and support for livelihoods,” UNHCR’s Mazloum said. “Without those elements, many returns may remain fragile or unsustainable.”