Jamila Badran, MSF midwife, displaced from her home in southern Lebanon
For Jamila Badran, a midwife with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) at the mobile clinics in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, the hardest part was carrying her sleeping daughter out of their home with no idea where they were going or what would come next.
It was around 10 p.m. on Saturday when Jamila, her husband Hussein Ayyash, also an MSF nurse, and their young daughter packed their belongings and fled their home in the Nabatiyeh district, driven out by the sound of explosions and nearby Israeli attacks. They went to her parents’ house in Deir ez-Zahrani, hoping it would be safer.
It wasn’t. Around 2 a.m., a new Israeli threat was issued against a building in the same town. Jamila’s family got up again, gathered what they could carry, and left again.
They stopped on the road for a while, trying to work out what to do next and waiting for things to calm down before continuing on their way.
“The hardest part was carrying my daughter while she was asleep and leaving our home without knowing where we were going.”
Jamila Badran, MSF midwife
A night that mirrors every day at work
For Jamila, the night was more than a personal ordeal. It was a glimpse into the lives of the pregnant women she treats every day.
The night carried particular weight for Jamila: she is not only a mother, but a midwife, and currently pregnant herself. In her daily work, she sees pregnant women living under repeated displacement and insecurity, without knowing what the next few hours will bring.
For one night, she was the one carrying her daughter out of the house with no idea where they'd end up. But as she's quick to point out, for many families across the south, that feeling never really lets up.
Escalation across the south
Jamila’s family is one of many. Over the weekend, Israeli strikes intensified across southern
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reports that 27 people were killed and over 69 injured in the strikes. Homes and civilian buildings, including Ghandour Hospital in Nabatiyeh Fawqa, were damaged. The hospital was out of service for months but remains standing.
The situation has led to more displacement among communities already facing uncertainty. The International Organisation for Migration estimates that over 375,000 people in the south have been displaced as residents leave areas affected by strikes and evacuation orders.
The deteriorating security situation is also disrupting
This should not become normal.
As a mother, a midwife, and a pregnant woman herself, Jamila can't help but think about the pregnant women she sees every day trying to carry their pregnancies through ongoing attacks and threats.
"No mother should have to wonder where she will sleep that night, and no pregnant woman should have to go through her pregnancy afraid for her life and the safety of her family. This should not become normal. "
MSF in Lebanon
MSF runs mobile clinics providing medical care to communities across southern Lebanon, including maternal healthcare delivered by staff like Jamila. Escalating attacks and displacement are increasingly disrupting this care, at a time when communities need it most.
Ongoing fear, displacement, and insecurity for families in southern Lebanon must not become the norm. Access to healthcare, and the safety of the people who provide it, must be protected.
