BEIRUT, Lebanon: More than a million people have fled from southern and eastern Lebanon and entered Beirut's southern suburbs since the firing of rockets by Hezbollah into Israel after the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran resulted in the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion.

Israel's attacks and large-scale evacuation orders, covering about 15 percent of the small country, according to aid agencies, have emptied villages in southern Lebanon. Most people from the southern suburbs have moved to Beirut, changing the city's balance and layout and raising concerns about its future.

A massive tent camp has appeared along the Beirut waterfront, in a grassy area between a yacht club and a nightlife spot. Some families are living in empty shops, mosques, or sleeping in their cars, crowding the streets. Others stay in makeshift tents along the seaside corniche or near Horsh Beirut, a pine forest park close to the suburb known as Dahiyeh.

Noor Hussein, who fled the first Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh in early March, said it feels terrible because they sense they are not welcome. Sitting by the waterfront with her children, she watched wealthy joggers pass by the tents and dirty mattresses. She said they don't want to be there and have nothing and nowhere else to go.

Beirut has seen waves of displaced people before, including during the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war. But experts say they cannot remember such a large and sudden movement, around 20 percent of the country's population, into the city.

Dalal Harb from the United Nations refugee agency said the scale and speed of this crisis are unlike anything before. She added that the estimate of 1 million displaced people is likely too low, as it does not include those who haven't officially registered.

The government has turned hundreds of public schools into shelters and set up tents under the stands of the main sports stadium. Aid groups are trying to help—for example, one group has turned a slaughterhouse damaged in the 2020 Beirut port explosion into housing for nearly 1,000 people.

Still, researchers say far more people are living on the streets than in past conflicts, making the crisis impossible for residents to ignore. People now regularly see large numbers of vulnerable families living in very poor conditions in public spaces, which creates strong and mixed emotions.

Many families say they cannot find space in government shelters in Beirut. They also don't want to move farther north, even if conditions might be better, because they have no relatives or connections there.

Hawraa Balha, 42, said her family prefers to stay in their small car rather than move north. She explained that going farther away would make them lose hope of returning home, and they don't want to be displaced again.

Many people from Dahiyeh are staying in Beirut so they can occasionally return to check on their homes or collect belongings, even though it is dangerous. Hussein said her children became so desperate for a shower after nearly a month without proper facilities that they risked going back home despite the constant presence of Israeli drones.