Nora Ingdal, Save the Children Lebanon Country Director, reflects on her recent trip to southern Lebanon where she found destruction after months of war.
On 16 April 2026, a temporary and conditional ceasefire was announced and later extended, bringing critical relief to children and families in Lebanon. Despite the “so-called” ceasefire, Israeli forces continued to carry out daily airstrikes that have resulted in hundreds of casualties, including children.
As I crossed the Qasmiyeh Bridge into southern Lebanon – just an hour’s drive from Beirut – I was struck the devastation unfolding around me. What I witnessed during that journey is something I still carry with me.
Thousands of families have returned to their homes in southern Lebanon in recent weeks, following months of displacement. I was visiting projects we are implementing in partnership with local authorities to support communities as they begin the difficult process of rebuilding their lives. But nothing could have prepared me for the scale of destruction I would see.
Our journey took us south across the Litani River via the Qasmiyeh Bridge, which was itself bombed twice, in March and April. As soon as we passed the Lebanese Army checkpoint beyond the bridge, it was clear we had entered a landscape shaped by war.
Destruction is everywhere. Piles of rubble where homes once stood.
Twisted metal debris from wrecked vehicles lined the roadside. Makeshift cemeteries had appeared beside villages. In every direction there were visible reminders of lives disrupted and communities torn apart.
The numbers tell the story but seeing the reality first hand is something else entirely Across 48 municipalities in Tye district – or local authorities – assessments show that nearly 35,000 housing units have been damaged, with more than 6,300 completely destroyed, about 8,500 partially damaged, and about 20,000 requiring rehabilitation, according to data from the municipality.
And this is just in Tyre – the southernmost district in Lebanon.
The damage extends well beyond housing. Essential infrastructure that communities depend on every day has been severely affected. Electricity networks have been disrupted in 43 municipalities, water networks in 45, telecommunications in 44, and sewage systems in 40.
Road infrastructure has also suffered significant damage, with 47 out of 48 municipalities reporting roads that are partially damaged, severely damaged, or completely destroyed. I could see this destruction as I crossed from one village to another in Tyre district.
The impact on education has also been severe, with about 40 public schools in the district damaged, disrupting learning opportunities for thousands of children and placing additional pressure on already vulnerable communities.
There is no justification for attacks on critical infrastructure – which are lifelines for communities – and this destruction limits access to essential services and remains a major barrier to the safe return of people who have been forced to flee.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces are still occupying the land here, making people stay away, either spread across different areas of Lebanon or gathered in displacement centres inside the city of Tyre.
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But people have returned, wanting to pick up their main source of income which is agriculture. More than 75% of displaced people have returned to their villages in Tyre District following the so-called ceasefire. Children represent about one-third of the affected population.
I met some families who had returned to Tyre after being displaced and they shared their current living conditions with us with bitterness and sadness.
I spoke to a family who used to grow citrus fruits and avocados before the war but said the bombs have destroyed the trees and the crops. The mother said that this summer’s harvest had passed them by while they were displaced in the north of Lebanon with nobody to tend to the fruit trees.
Now the family does not know how they will manage in the future.
Families are struggling to secure water for household use and drinking, with costs ranging between $10 and $20 per day for each family.
Some of the families I met told me that are so desperate that they need to send their children to work instead of school. In Tyre, I met Rami*, 12, whose family was forcibly displaced to northern Lebanon due to airstrikes and displacement orders from Israeli forces but returned last week to find they had nothing left.
He told me he would rather work to support his family than return to school, giving up on his dreams of an education and brighter future.
It is important that we need to show children like Rami* that there is a future for them. We can rebuild these villages so that people can return, recover and rebuild their lives. If we can get water and energy back on track in southern Lebanon, people will be able to resume their agricultural lives, achieve a measure of self-sufficiency, and recover.
This requires not only a sustained and permanent ceasefire that guarantees the safe return of displaced communities, but also the urgent rehabilitation of critical infrastructure in war-affected areas. We need donors to provide flexible and timely funding for all this, so that displaced communities can return safely, access essential services, and rebuild their lives with dignity while strengthening their resilience.
But while rebuilding homes, schools, water systems and roads is essential, we must also rebuild hope.
The children of southern Lebanon deserve more than survival - they deserve the chance to learn, to dream and to believe that their future can be brighter than their past.
We cannot allow an entire generation to be defined by war.
