Amnesty International is spearheading calls for a probe into Israel’s systematic destruction of civilian property in southern Lebanon, arguing that war crimes must be brought forward.
The human rights organization reported on Tuesday that Israel had used hand-held explosives and bulldozers to “devastate civilian structures, including homes, mosques, cemeteries, roads, parks, and soccer pitches, across 24 municipalities.”
Amnesty’s senior director Erika Guevara Rosas claimed in the statement that the destruction had “ruined countless lives and rendered entire regions uninhabitable.”
A ceasefire was reached in November 2024, which saw the end of more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of open war in which Israel sent ground troops and launched a significant bombing campaign. Since violating the ceasefire, Israel has almost daily done so.
Amnesty claimed that “more than 10,000 structures were severely damaged or destroyed during that time” from October 1st, 2012, to the beginning of Israel’s ground offensive. According to the statement, “a large portion of the destruction occurred after November 27 when the ceasefire began.”
Soldiers “filmed themselves singing and cheering” the destruction in some videos, according to the statement, adding that the majority of the destruction was “avoidable by urgent military necessity and in violation” of international humanitarian law.
Amnesty claimed to have emailed Israeli authorities about the destruction in late June but had not received a response.
Many residents of southern Lebanon have nothing to return to, Rosas said, “Given the scale of destruction the Israeli military has carried out.” According to the Israeli government, “All victims of international humanitarian law and war crimes, both individual and collectively, must receive prompt, full, and adequate reparations.”
Additionally, Amnesty urged states to end Israeli military support and weapons transfers.
War crimes, losses, and devastation
Israel’s most recent conflict with Hezbollah was previously accused of war crimes by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
HRW claimed that Israeli attacks on Lebanoni doctors were allegedly war crimes in October 2024. It claimed that between September and November 2024, Israel carried out indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
Israel claims to target Hezbollah affiliates and sites, but attacks in Lebanon from October 2023, the day before the ceasefire, resulted in the deaths of nearly 4, 000 people, many of them civilians.
The World Bank estimated Lebanon’s total economic cost in March at $ 14 billion, including $ 6.8 billion in physical damage damage.
The Lebanese army deployed to the south and destroyed Hezbollah’s infrastructure there in accordance with the November agreement, which the new government has already started.
Source: Aljazeera
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