Israeli occupation of south Lebanon 'very dire', says MP

A Lebanese MP has described the Israeli military's occupation of southern Lebanon as "very dire".

"Israel is invading, and when they come to a village, they actually destroy all houses, and they burn the land.

"At the same time, we have almost 10,000 people, or probably a little more, who are stranded in the south and these people are very peaceful.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on 2 March after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli attack that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Israel has responded with large-scale attacks across Lebanon and a ground offensive.

Lebanon's health ministry said yesterday that 1,345 people had been killed and 4,040 wounded since the start of Israeli attacks on Lebanon, including 1,129 men, 91 women and 125 children.

The ministry said the toll also included 53 healthcare workers.

Three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed earlier this week in separate attacks in southern Lebanon.

Minister for Defence Helen McEntee had to abandon a trip to Lebanon on security advice from the Defence Forces.

More than one million people have been displaced in Lebanon since Israel launched its latest series of attacks on the country at the start of last month.

Ms Saliba said that politicians are working with the international community and the local government to continue having a humanitarian corridor so people get "the supplies they need in time".

Israel has claimed that it needs to occupy southern Lebanon in order to protect northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah.

However, Ms Saliba said Hezbollah said it would resist attempts by the Lebanese armed forces to disarm them.

"They have threatened to turn their arms against the people and to declare a civil war if the Lebanese armed forces try to take their arms by force.

"They have threatened the Lebanese armed forces, and they have threatened people, ordinary people who are not armed, to turn their weapons towards them if anything like this would happen.

"They are using all kind of tools they have, all kind of arguments they have, so that they remain able to launch all these strikes against Israel," she said.

The Israeli military has said it had struck more than 3,500 targets across Lebanon in the month since fighting with the Hezbollah militant group began.

Israel said it had killed approximately 1,000 militants in Lebanon over the past month, with strikes targeting what it described as "terrorist infrastructure, weapons storage facilities, launch positions, and command and control headquarters" belonging to Hezbollah.

Yesterday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem would pay an "extraordinarily heavy price" for escalating attacks during the ongoing Jewish holidays.

His warning followed claims by Hezbollah that it had carried out a series of rocket attacks on northern Israel late Wednesday and early yesterday, as Israeli Jews began marking Passover.

Mr Katz also reiterated that Israeli forces "will clear Hezbollah and its supporters from southern Lebanon, maintain Israeli security control throughout the Litani area, and dismantle Hezbollah's military capabilities across Lebanon".