Israeli attacks on Lebanon may amount to war crimes, UN rights office says

‘Deliberately attacking civilians or civilian objects amounts to a war crime,’ UN says after resurgence in Israeli air strikes and ground operations.

At least 912 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Lebanon since early March [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]
Israeli attacks on residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in Lebanon may amount to war crimes, the United Nations human rights office says as the Israeli military pummels its northern neighbour as part of the wider war engulfing the Middle East.

Thameen al-Kheetan noted that displaced Lebanese civilians living in tents along the Beirut seafront were killed in Israeli strikes while other attacks since early March also have killed at least 16 health workers.

“International humanitarian law demands distinction between military targets and civilians and civilian objects and insists on feasible precautions being taken to protect civilians.

Deliberately attacking civilians or civilian objects amounts to a war crime,” al-Kheetan said.

“In addition, international law provides for specific protections for healthcare workers as well as people at heightened risk, such as the elderly, women and displaced people.”
At least 912 people, including 111 children, have been killed and 2,221 wounded in Israel’s attacks on Lebanon since March 2, according to the latest figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

Israel began carrying out intensified strikes in early March after Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel after the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in United States-Israeli attacks on February 28, the first day of the war they launched on Iran.

The Israeli military has since been carrying out a widespread aerial and ground assault across Lebanon in what it says is a campaign against Hezbollah.

The Lebanese armed group has responded by firing barrages of rockets into northern Israel and engaging Israeli forces on the ground in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the UN and international humanitarian groups have raised concerns about the conflict’s worsening toll on civilians across Lebanon.

Michael Adams, the country director at CARE Lebanon, said on Tuesday that the humanitarian response “is struggling to keep pace with the scale of the [displacement] crisis”.

“There are not enough resources, not enough essential supplies, and not enough funding to meet the immense needs we are seeing,” Adams said in a statement .

“In this conflict, the disregard for civilian life is unbearable.”
“With this displacement comes a wide array of human rights concerns.

Proper healthcare, sufficient food and drinking water are lacking,” al-Kheetan said.

“Education has been interrupted for another academic year, freedom of movement no longer exists, and livelihoods have now been lost.

And while people are displaced, Israeli attacks are destroying and damaging their houses, farmland and other civilian infrastructure.”