Palestinians in Lebanon, refugees living in fear of Israeli air strikes

Beirut, Lebanon –  Israel waits until dusk to bomb Beirut.

The shockwaves from explosions, the buzzing of drones, and the rumble of warplanes terrify the population – including Palestinian refugees.

Most attacks have focused on Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of the capital, reducing the once-bustling area to rubble and killing many civilians.

Nearby areas have seen thousands flee to displacement centres dotted around the city out of fear of Israeli attacks.

Shatila, the Palestinian refugee camp where some 20,000 people normally live squeezed on a single square kilometre (0.3 sq miles), is no exception.

The usually packed narrow streets are nearly empty, as most women and children have fled to areas a bit more distant from the Israeli onslaught.

“There was a decision taken [from my daughter and wife] that they can’t keep living in the home under so much fear, so they decided to go to Syria,” said Majdi Adam, a 52-year-old Palestinian married to a Syrian woman.

“I didn’t leave because I’m used to living through wars … I feel very connected to Shatila and I’m more scared of leaving this place than being killed by the Israelis here,” he added.

“But many other people left because they fear that what is happening to Dahiyeh may happen to Shatila.”

A man runs for cover from an Israeli air strike in Dahiyeh on October 4, 2024 [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]

A war on Palestinians?

Since Israel escalated its war on Lebanon in late September, it has triggered a humanitarian crisis and devastated cities and villages in south Lebanon, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing nearly 2,000 people and displacing more than a million.

The attacks haven’t spared Palestinian refugees, who mostly live in 12 camps across the country. These sites were built to host the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed from their homeland during the creation of Israel in 1948  – an event known as the Nakba, or the Catastrophe.

Over the last week, Israel has directly bombed Beddawi camp in the northern city of Tripoli, Ein el-Hilweh camp in the southern city of Sidon and el-Buss camp in the town of Tyre.

The attack on Beddawi killed a local Hamas commander, while the attack on Ein el-Hilweh failed to assassinate its intended target: Munir al-Maqdah, a Palestinian general with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a coalition of Palestinian armed groups.

Al-Maqdah survived the attack, but Israel killed his son and four other people.

Israel killed another Hamas commander with its strike on el-Buss, while later carrying out a separate operation on Kola, a bustling transport hub in central Beirut.

That strike killed three fighters from the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist armed group.

A respected Palestinian figure from the Mar Elias camp in Beirut, who is affiliated with a prominent political faction, but requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of speaking to reporters during a war, believes the camps could become secondary targets in the war.

He said the camps in Lebanon are evidence that Israel committed the Nakba.

“The existence of Palestinian camps – in the West Bank, Gaza, Syria or Lebanon – testify to the fact that the Nakba happened,” he told Al Jazeera. “If Israel bombs the camps, then it wouldn’t be a surprise. It’s normal for us to expect that they may try and do that.”

Making a difference

Palestinians in Lebanon face legal discrimination as they are barred from working in 39 high-wage professions outside the camps and are unable to own property, including through inheritance.

These restrictions have plunged 93 percent of Palestinians into poverty, according to the United Nations. The Lebanese government believes denying Palestinians these rights prevents their naturalisation in Lebanon, thereby protecting their “right of return” to Palestine.

Lebanese factions also fear that Palestinians – who are mostly Sunni Muslims – would tilt the country’s delicate sectarian balance if they became citizens.

Despite the history of discrimination against Palestinian refugees, many have rallied to help people affected by the war.

In Shatila, 48-year-old Fatima Ahmed, who owns a small sewing shop, quickly called a group of Palestinian friends and convinced them to help her make blankets for displaced people – many sleeping under bridges, on the streets or in shelters.

“We were all stressed in the camp from the sound of the bombing. To forget what’s happening, we decided to come together and to work. I feel like we are making a difference” Ahmed, a woman in a black hijab, told Al Jazeera in her shop.

Aya Hazeena and Fatma Ahmed in Shatila refugee camp making blankets for displaced people [Mat Nashed/Al Jazeera]

Since last week, Ahmed said, her team of women made 3,000 blankets. Oftentimes, they receive requests for blankets from local volunteer groups helping displaced people in nearby cities in the south or Beirut.

Ahmed doesn’t make a profit and simply asks relief organisations to pay for the materials she needs to make blankets. She and her colleagues also sometimes personally distribute blankets to people sleeping in the streets.

When asked why she stayed in the camp, she said, “I could die here, but the Israelis could also kill us if we seek shelter anywhere else.”

Right of return?

According to UN resolution 194, Palestinians have a right to return to their homeland and receive compensation for lost homes.

Israel has long accused the UN of trying to safeguard that right by providing vital provisions to six million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria and Lebanon, as it is mandated to do.

As a result, Israel has tried to undermine UNRWA, the UN’s agency that helps Palestinians, accusing it of being infiltrated by “Hamas” in Gaza, to pressure Western donors to suspend funding for its operations.

The Palestinian figure from Mar Elias said Israel may also target the refugee camps in Lebanon to further displace Palestinians, in the hope that they relocate and either give up or forget their right to return.

“The mere existence of the Palestinian refugee camps restricts the narrative of the Zionists,” he said.

“That’s why if they target our camps in Lebanon, then it would not be unexpected. Israel’s goal would be to target Palestinian refugees and undermine our right to return home.”