At least 13 civilians, including 11 children, were killed in the Israeli strike on Ein El-Hilweh camp.
The UN human rights office has urged a “prompt and impartial” investigation into Israeli strikes in Lebanon, including an attack last week on the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp that killed 11 children, warning of possible violations of international humanitarian law nearly a year after a ceasefire was signed.
Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement on Tuesday that all of those 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”.
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Israel has killed more than 300 people in Lebanon since the November 27, 2024, ceasefire, including about 127 civilians, according to the UN. Israeli forces remain deployed in five areas of southern Lebanon and continue near-daily air raids, which Israel claims target fighters from the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and its infrastructure.
Tens of thousands displaced
Al-Kheetan described last week’s strike on Ein el-Hilweh, near Sidon, as one of the deadliest since the ceasefire.
“At least 13 civilians, including 11 children, were killed and at least six civilians injured last week in an Israeli strike on the Ein El-Hilweh camp,” he said. “There must be prompt and impartial investigations … those responsible must be brought to justice.”
He said Israeli attacks have also hit homes, roads, factories and construction sites, hampering reconstruction in the south and preventing families from returning. He cited a November 16 strike on a cement and asphalt factory in Ansar, which destroyed dozens of concrete mixers, cranes and fuel tanks.
More than 64,000 people, mostly from southern Lebanon, remain displaced, according to the UN.
Al-Kheetan said Israel had begun constructing a wall that crosses into Lebanese territory, rendering 4,000 square metres (43,055sq feet) inaccessible and undermining displaced people’s right of return.
“All those internally displaced must be able to go back to their homes, and reconstruction should be supported, not tampered with,” he said.
Escalation in Beirut
The warning comes amid heightened tension after an Israeli strike in Beirut on Sunday killed a senior Hezbollah commander.
Hezbollah said its chief of staff, Haytham Ali Tabtabai, was among five people killed and 28 injured in the attack in Dahiyeh.
Experts say the attack marks a major escalation after Lebanon’s capital was struck for the first time in months, and days after Lebanon’s president announced that the country had agreed to talks following pressure from Israel and the United States to accelerate efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
Hezbollah was severely weakened after an Israeli escalation in September 2024 that killed its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah and other senior officials. Since the November ceasefire, the group has responded to Israeli attacks only once.
Al-Kheetan has urged “all parties” to observe the ceasefire “in good faith”.
“A genuine path towards a permanent cessation of hostilities is the only way to protect the human rights of civilians on both sides from the devastating effects of new hostilities. Accountability for violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law must be realised,” he added.
Meanwhile, Israel continues its genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza despite a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, killing more than 300 people since the truce took effect in early October. At least 69,733 people have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023.
Israel launched the genocidal war on Gaza after the Palestinian armed group Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing at least 1,129 people and seizing more than 200 others as captives.
Hezbollah started firing rockets into Israel on October 8, 2023, in what it said was an act of solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, beginning more than a year of escalating hostilities with Israel as the two sides frequently exchanged attacks across the border.
