Israel, which began incursions into southern Lebanon two weeks ago to combat the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, has issued military withdrawal orders affecting more than a quarter of the country, the United Nations refugee agency said. this Tuesday (15).
The figures highlight the high price the Lebanese are paying as Israel steps up its campaign to defeat Hezbollah and destroy its infrastructure in the year-old conflict.
The UN refugee agency’s Middle East director, Rema Jamous Imseis, told a news conference in Geneva that new Israeli evacuation orders for 20 villages in southern Lebanon meant more than a quarter of the country was affected.
“People are responding to these evacuation requests and are getting away with next to nothing.”
Israeli attacks killed at least 2,309 people last year, according to the Lebanese government, and more than 1.2 million people were displaced.
Most have been killed since late September, when Israel expanded its military campaign. The death toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Around 50 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, were killed, according to Israel.
Israel says its operation in Lebanon aims to secure the return of tens of thousands of residents forced to flee their homes in northern Israel due to Hezbollah attacks.
Israel expanded its bombing campaign in Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 22 people — most of them women — in a northern airstrike on a house where displaced people were seeking refuge from Israeli strikes further south, health officials said. .
“What we are hearing is that among the 22 people killed there were 12 women and two children,” UN human rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence said at the same press conference, in response to a question about the attack. on Monday in Aitou, which has a Christian majority.
“We understand that it was a four-story residential building that was hit. With these factors in mind, we have real concerns regarding international humanitarian law, namely the laws of war and the principles of distinction, proportion and proportionality,” he said, calling for an investigation into the incident.
Rescuers were still pulling bodies from the rubble in Aitou on Tuesday, local media reported, following one of the deadliest attacks on displaced families in Lebanon, following attacks earlier this month in the southern city of Ain Deleb. Lebanon, which left more than 30 people dead.
Israel has not commented on the attack on Aitou, but has repeatedly said it takes all possible precautions to avoid civilian casualties.
Attacks on Peacekeepers
To date, the main focus of Israel’s military operations in Lebanon has been the Bekaa Valley in the east, the suburbs of Beirut and the south, where UN peacekeepers say Israeli fire has hit their bases on several occasions. and injured members of the peacekeeping forces.
On Monday, the UN Security Council expressed grave concern after several peacekeeping positions in southern Lebanon were again attacked amid clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting a military base in central Israel where four soldiers were killed on Sunday by a Hezbollah drone strike, said Israel would continue to attack the movement “without mercy, in all the places of Lebanon – including Beirut”.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah resumed a year ago when the militant group began firing rockets at Israel in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war.
Meanwhile, the Middle East remains on high alert for Israel to retaliate against Iran for a missile barrage launched on October 1 in response to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.
Netanyahu’s office said Israel would listen to the United States but decide its actions in accordance with its own national interests.
The statement was attached to a Washington Post article that said Netanyahu had told US President Joe Biden’s administration that Israel would attack Iranian military targets, not nuclear or oil targets — suggesting a more limited counterstrike with the objective of avoiding a full-scale war.
The emir of Qatar accused Israel on Tuesday of exploiting “international inaction” in the Middle East crisis to go beyond its “aggression” in Gaza and build more illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and send troops to Lebanon.
“Israel has deliberately chosen to expand aggression to implement pre-planned schemes in other locations, such as the West Bank and Lebanon, because it sees that the scope for this is available,” said Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in his annual opening speech of the Qatar Shura Council.
Qatar, the United States and Egypt have repeatedly mediated in an attempt to end the war in Gaza, which erupted a year ago when fighters from the Palestinian militant group Hamas invaded Israel from Gaza and killed 1,200 people, according to the Israeli records.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 42,000 people in Gaza, turned the enclave into piles of cement and twisted metal and created severe shortages of food, water and fuel.
This content was originally published in UN says 25% of Lebanon is under withdrawal orders imposed by Israel on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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