Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon: Living in Permanent Survival Mode

Anera’s latest on-the-ground report, entitled “Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon | In Their Own Voices: Living in Permanent Survival Mode,” captures a critical inflection point for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, where long-standing structural vulnerabilities have converged with the impact of the 2026 war. The conflict has not created these inequalities, but it has sharply exposed and intensified them, revealing how fragile existing systems had already become.

Even before the latest escalation, years of economic collapse and declining international funding had pushed many families into survival mode, as access to healthcare, education and livelihoods steadily eroded, while humanitarian institutions were forced to scale back services due to sustained funding shortfalls.

Anera conducted the research, data collection and roundtable consultations that inform this report just months before the escalation. While conditions have since deteriorated further, the findings remain highly relevant in documenting the shrinking support systems shaping how communities are experiencing the conflict’s impact. For Palestinian communities, largely excluded from national safety nets, there are no viable alternatives when aid contracts.

In December 2025, Anera brought together 15 community-based and international organizations to examine how funding cuts were reshaping daily life in Palestinian communities. Participants described a humanitarian landscape in which needs were rising as resources declined, with Palestinian refugees among the hardest hit. They warned that reduced support was accelerating deterioration across nearly every aspect of life faster than existing systems could respond. The subsequent escalation of war has only intensified these pressures, adding new emergency demands and underscoring how little margin for shock remains.

Drawing on organizational perspectives and direct testimony, the report shows that essential services have been reduced to a minimum, prevention and development programming has largely collapsed, and women and children are bearing a disproportionate share of the burden.

What emerges is a reality that risks being overlooked: a long-standing lack of legal rights combined with the steady erosion of services and future prospects that the war has accelerated but did not begin. By bringing together the views and experiences of refugees and the organizations that serve them, this new report offers a clearer understanding of the crisis and a call for renewed coordination and investment in Palestinians in Lebanon.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT