- Ein El Hilweh is the largest Palestine refugee camp in Lebanon and is located south of Saida in Lebanon.
Ein El Hilweh Camp
Ein El Hilweh camp is located south of Saida in south Lebanon. It is the largest Palestine Refugee camp in Lebanon.
The camp’s inhabitants originally came in 1948, mostly from coastal Palestinian towns. The camp also hosts a large number of Palestine Refugees displaced from other parts of Lebanon, particularly from Tripoli, who came to Ein El Hilweh during the Lebanese civil war and in the aftermath of the Nahr el-Bared conflict in 2007. The ongoing Syria crisis has also led to the additional presence of Syrian refugees and Palestine Refugees from Syria (PRS) in the camp.
Security and governance in the camp are the responsibility of Popular Committees and Palestinian Factions. The camp is surrounded by a wall and access for people and building materials is controlled by the Lebanese Armed Forces through checkpoints.
Last updated July 2023.
For more information about Ein El Hilweh (click here).
REFUGEE CAMPS IN Lebanon
We provide services in 12 Palestine refugee camps in Lebanon. UNRWA does not administer or police the camps, as this is the responsibility of the host authorities.
Quick Facts
Official camps
Palestine Refugee Camps
- UNRWA provides services to nearly 50,000 Palestine Refugees in the Ein El Hilweh Camp
Unrwa In Ein El Hilweh Camp
Schools
- Elementary and preparatory education is provided through a network of seven schools.
- There is one school for secondary education, which is also frequented by students from outside the camp.
- There are over 6,000 Palestine refugee students in the camp, including PRS
Health Centre
- Two primary health-care centers provide general consultations, specialists’ consultations, mother and child health care, dental care, laboratory services and basic X-ray.
- Secondary and tertiary care is provided through a network of contracted hospitals in Saida and its suburbs, including governmental, Palestine Red Crescent Society and private hospitals.
- The health centers handle an average of 575 medical consultations every day.
