Israeli strikes on Lebanon violated humanitarian law: UN refugee chief

The United Nations' refugee chief Filippo Grandi has said that many strikes on Lebanon violated international humanitarian law, in reference to Israel's bombardment of large parts of the country.

"Unfortunately, many instances of violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) in the way the air strikes are conducted that have destroyed or damaged civilian infrastructure, have killed civilians, have impacted humanitarian operations," he told media in Beirut on Sunday.

Grandi was in Lebanon as it struggles to cope with the displacement of more than 1.2 million people as a result of intense Israeli bombardment.

He said the World Health Organization briefed him "about egregious violations of IHL in respect of health facilities in particular that have been impacted in various locations of Lebanon".

'Stop this carnage'

Israel has launched massive air strikes on Lebanon against what it calls Hezbollah targets, killing more than 1,200 people and injuring 3,400 others since September 23.

Tel Aviv also started a ground invasion of southern Lebanon on October 1.

The brutal military campaign was an escalation in a yearlong conflict between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on Gaza that has killed nearly 41,900 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

At least 2,036 people have since been killed, over 9,500 injured, and 1.2 million others displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

Grandi said all parties to the conflict and those with influence on them should "stop this carnage that is happening both in Gaza and in Lebanon today".

The fighting has led some 220,000 people to cross the Lebanese border with Syria, 70 percent of whom are Syrians and 30 percent Lebanese, Grandi said, saying these were conservative estimates.

Israel's bombardment of the main border crossing with Syria at Masnaa on Friday was "a huge obstacle", to those flows of people continuing, he said.

Many of the Syrians leaving Lebanon had sought refuge and fled war and a security crackdown after the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

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Source: TRT