Children pay the highest price in Middle East conflict

I visited Beirut this week, where this war is devastating children and families yet again, with more than 1 million people forcibly displaced from their homes.

I saw first-hand how schools that were meant for education are becoming shelters for displaced families, and how playgrounds and sports facilities are turning into places for storing and distributing humanitarian aid. No child should have to live through this.

Across Lebanon, families fleeing violence arrive carrying whatever pieces of normal life they could take with them. Children clutch toys, schoolbags, and sometimes their pets, trying to hold onto small comforts as their world is suddenly uprooted.

But Lebanon is only one part of a wider tragedy unfolding across the region.

Since Feb. 28, more than 4 million people have been displaced across several countries affected by this conflict. Hundreds of children have already lost their lives.

In Iran, the country is mourning the deaths of more than 100 girls killed in a strike on a school in Minab. In Israel, Lebanon, and elsewhere, families are grieving children who had no role in this war, yet have paid the ultimate price.

The consequences of this conflict will not end when the bombs stop falling. The damage will last for years.

A 17-year-old boy in Lebanon said: “All we want is to live in safety, not to live today without knowing whether tomorrow will come for us or not.” 

Schools are closed, hospitals struggling to operate.

Inger Ashing

For millions of children across the region, fear is constant. Schools are closed, hospitals struggling to operate, and communities that once provided stability are shattered by displacement and insecurity.

But the cost of this war is not confined to the Middle East. Missile and drone attacks have disrupted energy and shipping infrastructure across the Gulf, including the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass. Shipping is being rerouted and freight costs are rising sharply. The result is increasing prices for food, fuel, and transport around the world.

For families already struggling to survive, these rising costs are not an inconvenience. They are a threat to survival.

The world is already facing an unprecedented hunger crisis. Today, more than half of all children globally cannot afford a healthy diet. The UN has warned that if the current conflict continues to destabilize global markets, the number of people facing acute hunger could rise to 363 million this year — the highest level on record.

Humanitarian organizations are already feeling the impact.

Disruption to shipping routes has delayed lifesaving medical supplies destined for some of the world’s most fragile areas. Save the Children alone has around $600,000 of critical medical shipments currently delayed, affecting programs supporting hundreds of thousands of children in countries such as Sudan, Yemen, and Afghanistan. 

World leaders must choose a different path.

Inger Ashing

For children, the cost of war is paid twice — first in the immediate loss of safety, homes, and education, and then in the long shadow of destroyed schools, hospitals, and water systems that will take generations to rebuild.

It does not have to be this way.

World leaders must urgently choose a different path. Diplomacy must replace escalation, and the protection of children must come before military objectives.

All parties to the conflict must comply with international humanitarian law. Attacks on schools, hospitals, and aid workers must stop, and humanitarian supplies must be allowed to move freely, including through critical routes such as the Strait of Hormuz.

Children cannot continue to pay the price for a war they did not create.

No child should grow up displaced from their home, their classroom turned into a shelter, or their playground into a warehouse for aid. Yet for millions of children across this region, this is now their daily reality.

This war must stop, and children’s futures must be protected.

• Inger Ashing is CEO of Save the Children.