Trapped Palestinian Refugees Raise Concerns
The only known Christian group operating in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp expressed concern about the civilians still trapped inside the camp who are not receiving the aid they desperately need.
World Vision, which has worked in Lebanon for 30 years and in Palestinian refugee camps for the last ten years, reported that the Red Cross was able to deliver some basic aid - such as food and water - and evacuate some of the wounded during the few days of ceasefire this week. Most of the aid went to civilians leaving the camp. However, refugees remaining in the camp are still lacking basic supplies such as food, water, mattresses, medicine, and clothes.
"World Vision is concerned about injured and dead civilians still inside the camp and is coordinating with local partners to determine what kind of aid we can provide inside Nahr el-Bared as soon as it is safe enough to enter," reported Ruba Khoury, World Vision's program coordinator for Lebanon, to The Christian Post Wednesday night from Beirut.
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Since her report, however, the situation has worsened with gunfire erupting Thursday inside the refugee camp where Islamic militants are trapped by the Lebanese military who has vowed to eliminate al-Qaida-inspired Fatah Islam, according to The Associated Press.
"We will work to root out and strike at terrorism, but we will embrace and protect our brothers in the camps," said Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, in an address to the nation, according to AP.
Saniora accused Fatah Islam of being "a terrorist organization that claims to be Islamic and to defend Palestine" but was in fact "attempting to ride on the suffering and the struggle of the Palestinian people."
The fighting has forced about 15,000 of the 35,000 refugees in the camp to flee, according to WV. Of those that fled, about 12,000 left the camp between Tuesday night – the beginning of a cease-fire – and Wednesday morning.
"Those who have left have been mostly women, children, elderly, and disabled," reported Khoury. "Children left in their pajamas, some had no shoes."
Most that have left Nahr el-Bared camp are going to BiDawi camp about six miles away, and some to other communities nearby.
"The situation is very worrying," said Najla Chahda, Caritas Lebanon's director of emergency unit, in a report. "It feels like the clock has been rewound 25 years to the start of the civil war. We don't know what to expect from one moment to the next. We pray for peace and that Lebanon can be saved from any further suffering."
The current conflict between the Lebanese government and the Fatah Islam is the worst internal fighting since the country's civil war.
Yet despite the violence and fear caused by the conflict, the Christian organization also sees hope in sharing the love of Christ in the midst of darkness and despair.
"The Bible tells us to look after widows and orphans in their distress, and that is exactly what we are doing with these refugee children, women, and disabled people," said Khoury. "We show Christ's love through our actions … by loving these people and acting on our love by giving them provisions and much needed aid.
"And [we] hope in this case that these children and families will be comforted with the knowledge that God cares for them."
