The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warns of possible Israeli war crimes in Lebanon. Airstrikes affect both civilians and medical personnel.
Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings, displaced civilians and medics in Lebanon raise concerns about violations of international law and may constitute war crimes, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in Geneva on Tuesday. TASR refers to a Reuters report.
The Israeli army has been carrying out airstrikes in Lebanon since the beginning of March against the targets of the Hezbollah movement. The Tehran-backed movement began firing rockets at Israel in response to US-Israeli attacks against Iran. They have since left at least 886 dead and forced more than a million people from their homes, according to Lebanese authorities.
Concerns about war crimes
The OHCHR called for an investigation into the deadly attacks on displaced people sheltering in tents on the coast of Beirut, as well as on a medical facility in the city of Bint Jbail. “International law is clear in this regard – intentional attacks on civilians or civilian objects constitute a war crime,” the OHCHR spokesman emphasized.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the statements. However, he repeatedly says that he sees the targets of Hezbollah’s infrastructure and his limited ground operation in Lebanon as a defensive move against the movement’s attacks on northern Israel.
The humanitarian crisis is growing
The UN humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, Imran Riza, warned that civilians are paying a high price. “The number of displaced people is rising incredibly fast. Hundreds of thousands of people have now left their homes, many of them with almost nothing but what they were wearing,” he said. According to him, humanitarian aid supplies are limited due to reduced funding from donors and disrupted supply chains.
