The Irish Red Cross has doubled funding for the crisis in Lebanon to €100,000 and has called for political and diplomatic action to bring an end to the conflict.
David Andrews, chairman of the Irish Red Cross
David Andrews, chairman of the Irish Red Cross, said colleagues in the Lebanese Red Cross were putting their lives on the line to deliver aid, take wounded people to hospital and to take care of the remains of those who have been killed.
Mr Andrews appealed for donations to the Irish Red Cross to fund the operations.
"Political and diplomatic action is what is needed most to bring an end to the conflict, but our humanitarian work to treat the injured, and provide food and water to the people who are the victims of this conflict, is critical to saving lives right now," Mr Andrews said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it needs €63 million to fund its operations in what it said were the "unbearably dangerous" conditions for civilians in south Lebanon.
About 80 per cent of the country's ambulance missions are run by the Lebanese Red Cross, which has been subject to a number of attacks from aerial bombardments, the Irish Red Cross said.
Two such attacks took place in the city of Qana at the weekend, where an estimated 54 people, more than half of them children, were killed by Israeli attacks.