Women and girls in southern Lebanon are enduring a deepening humanitarian crisis as Israeli forces continue bombing and occupying parts of the region.

Activist and scholar Jennifer Loewenstein says the destruction has reached into homes, hospitals, workplaces, and nearly every corner of civilian life.

Loewenstein, the former associate director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison, recently returned from Lebanon.

Israeli forces have occupied southern territory since March, despite a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States and continuing diplomatic talks in Rome.

Food shortages and the loss of basic necessities have compounded the violence.

More than one million people have been displaced, according to Loewenstein, and some families returning south have discovered that their homes no longer exist.

Lebanon’s prime minister and president agreed with Israel and the United States that Israeli troops could remain inside a so called “security zone” until Hezbollah is disarmed.

Loewenstein described that arrangement as scandalous to many Lebanese citizens because their government is negotiating with the country bombing and occupying their communities.

She also rejected the familiar framing of Hezbollah as merely an Iranian proxy.

In her account, it remains a grassroots political and armed movement with overwhelming support among Lebanon’s Shia population, largely because it is fighting Israeli occupation.

The agreement has widened divisions within Lebanon’s government and across its already strained society.

Loewenstein argues that instability serves Israel’s interests by leaving Lebanon weaker, more fragmented, and easier to control.

Meanwhile, the promised ceasefire appears to be functioning more like a diplomatic prop than an actual restraint.

“Israel certainly doesn’t act as if it knows the meaning of the word ceasefire,” Loewenstein said.

She views the continuing attacks as part of a broader Israeli strategy of perpetual warfare across the region.

Israel has seized territory in Syria, occupied land in Lebanon, and attacked Yemen, Iraq, and Iran while continuing its devastating assault on Gaza.

In Loewenstein’s assessment, the Israeli government seeks regional dominance and intends to strike neighboring countries whenever they become stronger or rebuild military capacity.

She compared that strategy to Israel’s practice of periodically attacking Gaza to “mow the lawn,” a grim phrase that reduces repeated civilian devastation to routine maintenance.

Women and girls are carrying a particularly punishing share of the consequences.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned that women in southern Lebanon face increased gender based violence and severely disrupted access to essential health services.

When hospitals and clinics are attacked or rendered unusable, women lose access to reproductive care, emergency treatment, and routine medical services.

Because women also commonly serve as primary family caregivers, the destruction of health systems forces them to absorb even more responsibility while navigating displacement and trauma.

“What we’re seeing in Lebanon is very similar to what we see in Gaza, where women’s lives have been shattered in every conceivable way,” Loewenstein said.

Rebuilding becomes even harder when women themselves are killed, injured, displaced, or deprived of the resources needed to hold families together.

Women have also been killed in attacks on journalists and prominent civilians.

Loewenstein cited sea turtle conservationist Mona Khalil, whose home was bombed, as an example of a woman she believes was deliberately targeted.

The dangers do not stop with Israeli bombardment. Economic collapse, unemployment, displacement, and social disintegration can fuel domestic abuse as anger and desperation are redirected inside homes, with women and children often paying the highest price.

“That’s not an excuse for domestic violence; if anything, it’s a sad commentary on our societies,” Loewenstein said.

Local counselors and women’s organizations are working to confront the crisis, but their efforts face enormous obstacles when entire communities are struggling to find safety, shelter, and food.

On sexual violence specifically inside occupied Lebanon, Loewenstein was cautious.

“I have not read about sexual violence in Lebanon so far, but you’re absolutely right,” she said, while pointing to reports from B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International concerning sexual abuse against Palestinians in Israeli detention.

Despite the scale of the catastrophe, Loewenstein urged Americans not to surrender to despair.

“The only way any of this is going to stop is by people like us standing up and saying ‘enough is enough.’”

She argued that public opinion inside the United States has changed substantially, especially among Democrats increasingly unwilling to support Israel without conditions.

That shift may be slow, but it represents growing recognition that endless weapons, diplomatic cover, and empty ceasefire language will not protect Lebanese women or stop the devastation.

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