UN humanitarian officials have called for urgent action to stop the escalating conflict in Lebanon from spiralling into a similar scene of devastation as seen in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

“We need to do everything we can to stop that from happening,” said Matthew Hollingworth, Lebanon country director for the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva from Beirut, he said he had spent the first half of the year coordinating WFP’s operations in Gaza before taking the helm of its Lebanon office, and was deeply concerned by the similarities.

“It is in my mind from the time I wake until the time I sleep, that we could go into the same sort of spiral of doom … We shouldn’t allow that to happen,” he said.

James Elder, the spokesperson for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, warned that “the commonalities are unfortunately absolutely there to be seen, whether it is displacement on the ground, impact upon children or language being used … [to] soften the realities on the ground”.

“We are seeing the same patterns that we saw in Gaza,” Jeremy Laurence of the UN rights office added.

“The devastation is beyond belief for all people in Lebanon as it is in Gaza. We can’t let this happen again.”