UN calls for probe into Israel’s strikes on Lebanon

Nearly a year after a ceasefire was signed, the UN human rights office has called for a “prompt and impartial” investigation into Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson, cited an attack last week that claimed 11 children’s lives at the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp.

He claimed in a statement on Tuesday that “all of the people killed in the Ein el-Hilweh strike were civilians,” raising “serious concerns that the Israeli military’s attack may have violated international humanitarian law principles on the conduct of hostilities.”

Since the ceasefire ended on November 27, 2024, Israel has killed more than 300 people in Lebanon, including 127 civilians, according to the UN.

Israeli forces are stationed in five southern Lebanonian neighborhoods and continue conducting nearly daily airstrikes, which Israel claims target Hezbollah’s fighters and its infrastructure.

The most deadly strike since the ceasefire, according to Al-Kheetan, occurred last week near Sidon’s Ein el-Hilweh.

In an Israeli attack on the Ein El-Hilweh camp last week, at least 13 civilians were killed, including 11 children, and at least six civilians were hurt, he claimed. “Those accountable must be brought to justice,” he says, “There must be prompt and impartial investigations.”

He claimed that Israeli attacks have also harmed families in the south and prevented families from returning from their homes, roads, factories, and construction sites. He cited an Ansar cement and asphalt factory strike on November 16 that had destroyed numerous concrete mixers, cranes, and fuel tanks.

More than 64, 000 people are still displaced, according to the UN, the majority from southern Lebanon.

Al-Kheetan claimed that Israel had begun building a wall into Lebanese territory, causing the displacement of 4, 000 people and putting them at risk.

Reconstruction should be supported, not tampered with, he said, adding that “all internally displaced people must be able to go back to their homes.”

Beirut escalation

A senior Hezbollah commander was killed on Sunday when an Israeli attack in Beirut heightened the situation.

Haytham Ali Tabtabai, Hezbollah’s chief of staff, was one of five fatalities and 28 injuries in the Dahiyeh attack, according to Hezbollah.

After the country’s capital was hit for the first time in months, according to experts, and days after Lebanon’s president announced that talks were being held following Israeli and American pressure to push up Hezbollah’s efforts, the attack marks a major escalation, according to experts.

Hassan Nasrallah and other senior officials were killed in a terrorist attack by Israel in September 2024, severely weakened Hezbollah. The organization has only ever responded to Israeli attacks once since the ceasefire in November.

Al-Kheetan has urged “all parties” to observe the ceasefire “in good faith.”

The only way to shield civilians on both sides from the ravages of new hostilities is to pursue a genuine path toward a permanent cessation of hostilities. He further stressed that international human rights and humanitarian law must be upheld.

Despite a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which has resulted in more than 300 fatalities since the early October truce, Israel continues to wage a genocidal war against the Palestinians in Gaza. Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 69,733 people in its genocidal war against Gaza.

At least 1, 129 people were killed and more than 200 others were taken as captives in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which was led by the Palestinian-armed group Hamas, which led to Israel starting the genocidal war against Gaza.

Source: Aljazeera