A mental hospital in south Lebanon is just days away from running out of the medicine used to treat its 250 schizophrenic patients, its director said on Thursday. “We have very little Epanutin left,” said Adela Dajani Labban, director of the private Al Fanar Mental Hospital in Zefta, a village 60km south of Beirut. Epanutin is an anti-convulsion drug that can be used to treat schizophrenia. Staff nurse Hossam Mustafa said doctors had been reducing dosages to patients in an attempt to conserve supplies. “If we do not get more medicine soon we will be faced with a very difficult situation. The patients will become very aggressive.” Read more about Mental hospital nearly out of medicine 

Despite being granted safe passage by Israel for some of their humanitarian convoys, relief agencies say limited security clearances, bombed access routes and intensified fighting between Hezbollah militants and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are hampering their aid efforts. The current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began on 12 July after Hezbollah captured two IDF soldiers. Israel says its aerial bombardment of parts of Lebanon is aimed at dismantling Hezbollah’s “terror infrastructure”. Hezbollah has responded by firing thousands of rockets into northern Israel and has demanded the release of hundreds of Lebanese from Israeli jails and Israel’s withdrawal from all Lebanese territory. Read more about Limited safe passage hampers aid agencies 

This report documents serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war) by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Lebanon between July 12 and July 27, 2006, as well as the July 30 attack in Qana. During this period, the IDF killed an estimated 400 people, the vast majority of them civilians, and that number climbed to over 500 by the time this report went to print. The Israeli government claims it is taking all possible measures to minimize civilian harm, but the cases documented here reveal a systematic failure by the IDF to distinguish between combatants and civilians. Read more about Fatal strikes: Israel's indiscriminate attacks against civilians in Lebanon 

Thirteen-year-old Hassan Hamade recently fled Israeli bombing in the city of Nabatiyeh, 60 kilometres south of Beirut. “I cannot sleep at night,” he said. “I still hear the sound of the Israeli warplanes and the explosion of bombs.” Hassan is now at his grandmother’s house in Beirut with the rest of his family. Hassan’s mother, Nibal, said that her two sons and daughter still wake up at night and at times scream in their sleep. “It is not only the children,” Nibal said. “My husband is also finding it hard to sleep at night, and he is always stressed out and edgy.” Richa said the psychiatric disorder can affect anyone who has lived through a conflict situation. Read more about Air strikes cause post-traumatic stress 

WFP has warned that it has suffered another setback in its huge efforts to bring much-needed aid to the beleaguered inhabitants of southern Lebanon. Out of three convoys planned for today to the southern villages of Tebnin, Rmeish and Naqoura, WFP only received concurrence from the Israeli Defence Forces to proceed to Tebnin. “We are increasingly frustrated that our convoy movements are being hampered, leaving people in the south stranded for what is now nearly three weeks. We have no time to waste - they are running out of food, water and medicine. Many are poor, sick, or elderly and could not be evacuated earlier,” warned Amer Daoudi, WFP Emergency Coordinator. Read more about Cancelled convoys hamper aid for stranded in southern Lebanon 

Despite intense Israeli air strikes in the south of Lebanon and repeated Israeli warnings to leave the area, there are still thousands of Lebanese in the territory adjoining the Israeli-Lebanese border. “It is not easy to abandon your home not knowing when you will return,” said Maysoon Arbid, who managed to flee Ainata village, near Bint Jbeil, in south Lebanon last week. According to the Lebanese government, as many as 600,000 people have fled the south in the past 20 days, creating a displacement crisis in the north and in the capital, Beirut. Read more about Poverty, fear and defiance keep southerners at home 

Noting that Israel had warned the population of likely military action, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, underlined that while effective advance warning of attacks which may affect the civilian population must be given, this legal obligation does not absolve the parties to the conflict of their other obligations under international law regarding the protection of civilians. Arbour today said: “I strongly condemn the killing of dozens of civilians, among whom a very high proportion were children, resulting from the shelling by the Israeli Forces of a residential building in which civilians were sheltering in Qana, South Lebanon, on 30 July. Read more about High Commissioner for Human Rights condemns killings of civilians in Qana