BEIRUT, November 23. /TASS/. About 900,000 Lebanese had to leave their homes due to clashes between Israel and the Shiite party Hezbollah, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

According to its report, UN experts say that approximately 896,300 people had to leave, about 51% of them women.

OCHA noted that 1,173 temporary shelters for refugees had been opened in Lebanon with 975 of them completely filled. They are currently housing about 188,000 people.

The situation in the Middle East escalated dramatically when on October 7, 2023, armed Hamas supporters from the Gaza Strip penetrated Israeli territory, killing residents of border settlements and seizing more than 240 hostages. In retaliation, Israel launched a military operation in the enclave in order to destroy the military and political structures of Hamas and liberate all those hostages. The hostilities in the Gaza Strip continue to this day.