Civilians stranded without supplies as clashes continue in Ain al-Hilweh in South Lebanon

Rights groups and local officials warned of worsening humanitarian conditions for civilians trapped in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon as clashes continued between rival factions for the third day.

"There are people that have been stuck in the camp without food and water for two days now. No one is bringing aid to Ain al-Hilweh. Where are the humanitarian organisations?" Adnan Rifai, a member of the Ain al-Hilweh Popular Committee, told The New Arab from inside the camp.

Rifai warned that civilians, many of whom "could only afford daily bread," were in danger if aid did not enter the camp.

The UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the primary service provider in the camp, has stopped all its services in the camp due to the ongoing clashes.

At least 11 have been killed, 40 injured, and at least 2,000 camp residents displaced due to the violence, UNRWA said in its latest statement.

UNRWA has opened nearby schools to the displaced, while others are taking shelter in nearby mosques.

"These are not 'shelters'; these are just areas far away from the fighting. There is a large need for water, food and hygiene supplies, as currently there's not enough to go around," Mohamed al-Shouli, the media officer for the Palestinian Association for Human Rights, told TNA.

On Sunday, 30 July, violence erupted in the camp after an Islamist group assassinated a prominent commander, Abu Ashraf al-Armoushi, from the Fatah party, which rules the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.

Clashes then escalated between Fatah militants and Islamist factions, with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades being fired between residential apartment buildings and shops in the camp.

Lebanese lawmakers and Palestinian officials brokered a ceasefire late Monday, but further clashes quickly broke this on Tuesday.

How can we rebuild?

Ain el-Hilweh is Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, with over 80,000 refugees packed into a 1.5-kilometre square area.

The Lebanese Army constructed a concrete wall around the camp in 2017 and controls the flow of people and goods in and out of the camp. The army has no security presence inside Ain al-Hilweh and instead allows Palestinian factions to govern the camp through a joint security force.

Rights groups said that the camp's dense nature worsened the fighting's impact on civilians, with stray bullets and bombs damaging homes, stores and public infrastructure.

"The conflict is taking place in the narrow streets of the camp, leading to the destruction of the refugees' property, houses and stores. The population is already so poor," al-Shouli said.

Al-Shouli said the damage caused in Ain al-Hilweh by the ongoing fighting will have long-lasting consequences, as the population lacks the funds to repair the already substandard infrastructure.

Palestinian refugees are among the hardest hit by Lebanon's ongoing economic crisis, with 93 per cent living in poverty. Palestinian refugees are prohibited from working in many sectors of the country's labour market, decreasing their economic opportunities.

"After the conflict ends, how will people live? Those whose homes are damaged or destroyed – if they can't even afford bread, how can they afford to rebuild?" Rifai said.

Who can stop the clashes?

Clashes intensified on Tuesday afternoon, despite Hamas, Fatah and Lebanese parties calling for the fighting to stop.

Though Ain al-Hilweh is governed by a coalition of forces led by Fatah and other factions with ties to groups in Palestine itself, the local nature of the current violence seems to have thus far prevented Palestinian parties from enforcing a ceasefire.

A spokesperson from the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) told TNA that they were "taking military measures around the camp and trying to communicate with [factions]."

Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip declined TNA's request for a comment on the matter.

The LAF has been hesitant to interfere in security incidents in Ain al-Hilweh in the past, especially due to the terms of the 1969 Cairo Agreement, which states that the Lebanese Army does not conventionally enter the Palestinian camps while internal security is provided by Palestinian factions.

However, in 2007, the LAF fought a months-long war against Palestinian Fatah al-Islam militants in the Naher al-Bared in the country's north. The conflict left almost 500 dead and another 500 injured and displaced around 30,000 Palestinian refugees. Nahr al-Bared's destruction also took a devastating toll on the local economy because it was the home to the largest market in northern Lebanon.