Lebanon is preparing for the possibility that hundreds of thousands displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders will not return home in the long term, Lebanese social affairs minister Haneen Sayed tells Reuters.

He has made the remarks after Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military would destroy all homes along Lebanon’s border with Israel and bar 600,000 residents who fled southern Lebanon from returning to their villages.

“Long-term displacement is something we are concerned about, of course. We hope it does not happen, but as a government, we have to prepare and think about it,” Sayed says.

The Lebanese government is considering options, including cash-for-rent programs and “physical places where people might go”, but is not planning to construct camps at this stage, she said.

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