Whilst an extension of the ceasefire has been agreed, children still cannot tell the difference between the sound of thunder and bombs, as families are too afraid to return home.
BEIRUT, 24 April 2026 - A week into the newly extended conditional ceasefire in Lebanon, over one million people, including 390,000 children, remain displaced across the country, with children still living in terror of bombing, said Save the Children [1].
More than 117,000 people including 40,000 children remain in collective shelters, with just one-fifth returning home since the conditional ceasefire was agreed, according to UN figures [2].
Some parents have told Save the Children their children cannot tell the difference between the sound of thunder and bombs, as drones continue to fly above their heads and families are too afraid to return home.
Thousands of people have nowhere to return to as the Israeli military demolished entire villages during its ground invasion of southern Lebanon, with over 62,000 housing units damaged or destroyed during the war, according to the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research [3].
Many other families whose homes are still standing have no choice but to remain displaced, with 55 villages declared by the Israeli military as within the “so-called” yellow line where access has been restricted with renewed displacement orders.[4]
Thousands of children are still unable to go back to school, with many now attempting to study online despite living in noisy collective shelters and having unreliable internet. Children have told Save the Children staff that it is hard to concentrate with many resorting to taking lessons from computers and phones sitting in cars to get some quiet.
Rawan*, a mother, spent 24 hours in a car with her family when they were forcibly displaced from their homes due to Israeli bombardment in early March. Rawan told Save the Children from a collective shelter:
“My youngest still to this day whenever she hears a loud sound, asks me – Mom, why are there warplanes? Why are there drones? Are they coming to bomb us?
“I hope I can return to my house and go back to my normal life, for my children to return to their school and for us to get out of this psychological state we are in, because it has truly affected us deeply, and we are experiencing an unnatural level of fear.”
Nora Ingdal, Country Director, Save the Children Lebanon said:
“I have met with many children and families across the country, they all tell me the same thing, they want to go back home, children want to go back to school, adults back to work. Families want to stop living in a state of uncertainty, fearful of a return to war and under the buzzing sounds of drones over their heads.
“The news of a three-week extension to the temporary ceasefire is somewhat relieving but people are cautious and continue to live in a perpetual state of uncertainty, a pause it is not enough. Families are being forced to endure another three weeks of living in limbo, unable to return to their old lives, living in tents on the streets, in schools and stadiums. I have spoken to humanitarian workers that are still pulling bodies from the rubble a week on, the war does not feel over for anyone in Lebanon.
“Children need to go back to normality, back to school, to learn and play with their toys and friends. They cannot live full lives with the looming uncertainty of war. People need time to rebuild their lives and deal with the psychological trauma of what they have just lived through. We call for a permanent ceasefire and any perpetrators to be held to account.”
Prior to the conditional ceasefire on 17 April, almost 10,000 people including nearly 800 children had been killed or injured in 45 days of war [5]. In the week since the conditional ceasefire was agreed, at least five people have been killed, according to media reports [6].
Save the Children is calling on the international community to urgently work toward a permanent and definitive ceasefire and an increase in flexible and sustainable funding to meet children and families’ basic needs and support recovery efforts.
Save the Children continues to provide psychosocial support for children, educate families and children about the risks of unexploded ordnance, ensure access to safe water and sanitation facilities, and distribute essential items for those displaced.
For media enquiries please email media@savethechildren.org.uk