BEIRUT, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Mohammad Salama, forced from his home in the southeastern Lebanese village of Khiam by the ongoing tension between Hezbollah and Israel, now rents a cramped room in the southern village of Kfar Roummane.

 

There, he displays his family's handmade sweets, a new source of income amidst displacement.

 

Salama said, "With no hope of returning home soon, displaced people like me have no choice but to find ways to make ends meet and avoid poverty."

 

Military escalations on the Lebanon-Israel border have driven over 100,000 people out of their homes. They try to seek refuge in safer areas, and many, like Salama, are forced to scramble for any source of income.

 

Nawal Tahini, a displaced housewife from Aitaroun village, now works at a cosmetics store in Tyre. Her meager 100-U.S.-dollar monthly salary can barely cover her seven-member family's necessities.

 

"We never imagined being displaced for that long and losing all our earnings in the blink of an eye," Tahini told Xinhua.

 

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib recently appealed to the International Red Cross to assist the over 100,000 displaced people.

 

The humanitarian cost of the conflict is stark. According to Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi, Israeli strikes destroyed some 1,000 houses and damaged 8,000 more. Labor Minister Moustafa Bayram estimated that 3,000 facilities were damaged in the attacks.

 

The situation has forced people to earn a living with creativity. Adel Zreik, who lost his furniture showroom in Mays al-Jabal village, now sells chairs and tables on the truck, traversing the southern landscape.

 

"It's not ideal," the 60-year-old man admitted, "but at least we maintain our dignity."

 

Hassan Atwi, displaced from Houla village, has set up a makeshift fruit and vegetable stand near Khardali Bridge. Israeli airstrikes destroyed his food shop back home.

 

"We have no choice but to work instead of begging for money," he asserted.

 

Jalal Mustafa's family, displaced to the al-Zahrani area, relies on his meager retirement income to carry on with life. But with needs outpacing resources, Mustafa has to take a job in a restaurant to support the family.

 

"We cannot surrender to difficulties; we have to start from zero and go on with our lives," he told Xinhua.

 

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on Oct. 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.