World Food Programme has voiced concern over Lebanon’s ability to feed itself, saying thousands of hectares of farmland across the country’s south has been destroyed or abandoned due to Israeli attacks.

“Agriculture-wise, food production-wise, (there is) extraordinary concern for Lebanon’s ability to continue to feed itself,” Matthew Hollingworth, WFP country director in Lebanon, told a Geneva press briefing, adding that harvests will not occur and that produce is rotting in fields.

At the same briefing, World Health Organization official Ian Clarke in Beirut warned that there was a much higher risk of disease outbreaks among Lebanon’s displaced population.

“We are facing a situation where there is a much higher risk of disease outbreaks, such as acute watery diarrhoea, hepatitis A, and a number of vaccine preventable diseases,” Clarke said.

Israeli warplanes have carried out a series of air strikes in several areas across Lebanon, including Beirut’s southern suburb.

According to Lebanon’s official National News Agency, the warplanes targeted the Tahouitet al Ghadir area near Beirut’s airport and the Burj al Barajneh area, both in Beirut’s southern suburb areas.

Earlier, the news agency reported Israeli air strikes in several areas and towns around Tyre city in southern Lebanon.

It added that at dawn, the Israeli warplanes struck several villages in the Baalbek district in eastern Lebanon, including the Younine village and Nabi Chit town.