GENEVA: The United Nations on Tuesday called for quick, impartial investigations into Israeli strikes in Lebanon, including a recent deadly attack on a Palestinian refugee camp.
The UN human rights office lamented that nearly a year after the LebanonâIsrael ceasefire was reached, âwe continue to witness increasing attacks by the Israeli militaryâ.
Lebanon has accused Israel of breaching the November ceasefire agreement which was intended to end more than a year of clashes with Hezbollah by continuing its strikes and maintaining troops inside Lebanese territory.
According to Lebanonâs health ministry, more than 330 people have been killed and 945 injured in Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect on Nov 27 last year.
UN rights office spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan said the office had verified that 127 civilians were among the dead. He drew particular attention to last weekâs Israeli strike on the Ain al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, which killed 13 people, 11 of them children.
Serious concerns
Kheetan told reporters in Geneva that âall the fatalities we have documented as a result of this strike were civilians, raising serious concerns that the Israeli militaryâs attack may have violated international humanitarian law principles on the conduct of hostilitiesâ.
âThere must be prompt and impartial investigations into the Ain El Hilweh strike, as well as all other incidents involving possible violations of international humanitarian law by all parties, both before and after the ceasefire,â he said.
âThose responsible must be brought to justice.â
Asked who should conduct such inquiries, he responded: âWhen weâre talking about strikes conducted by the Israeli military, the Israeli military should investigate its own actions. Of course, the Lebanese state has the responsibility to investigate similar violations that can occur from its side.â
He added that the ongoing Israeli attacks had also destroyed or damaged civilian infrastructure.
âThey have also severely hampered reconstruction efforts and attempts by internally displaced people to go back to their homes in southern Lebanon,â he said.
The rights office noted that more than 64,000 people mostly from southern Lebanon remain displaced in other parts of the country following last yearâs fighting.
Kheetan also said âIsrael started constructing a wall crossing into Lebanese territory that makes 4,000 square metres inaccessible to the population, thus affecting peopleâs right to return to their landsâ.
âAll those internally displaced must be able to go back to their homes, and reconstruction should be supported, not hampered,â he added, urging all sides to observe the ceasefire âin good faithâ.
Earlier this month, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon reported that the Israeli military had built walls in south Lebanon near the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the effective border.
