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The UN's human rights office said on Tuesday that Israel’s attacks on civilians and medical staff in Lebanon, as well as the forced displacement of the population, could amount to war crimes.
Thameen Al Kheetan, a spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights, said Israeli orders to leave large areas of Beirut and southern Lebanon “may amount to forced displacement, prohibited under international humanitarian law”.
He added that Israeli air strikes on homes, destroying entire residential buildings and killing several members of the same family, have also raised “serious concerns under international humanitarian law”.
This comes as Israel intensifies its air campaign and ground offensive in Lebanon, pushing forces deeper into the south. On Tuesday, the Israeli army said it had sent additional troops as part of an “expanded buffer zone”, broadening its ground invasion in the south.
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A fireball rises from the site of an Israeli air strike that hit a building in Beirut’s Bachoura neighbourhood. Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel in response to US-Israeli strikes that killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. AFP -
Firefighters at the site of the Israeli air strike in Bachoura. Lebanon said Israel struck central Beirut on March 18 without warning, killing at least six people, as the Israeli army announced it was attacking the country's south. AFP -
People walk past damaged cars and rubble at the site of the Israeli air strike in Bachoura. AFP -
Firefighters and people gather at the site of the Israeli air strike. AFP -
An Israeli air strike hits Beirut’s Bachoura neighbourhood. AFP -
Firefighters at the site of the Israeli air strike. Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said that a building in central Bachoura neighbourhood was hit. AFP -
AFP correspondents heard a blast and AFPTV footage showed smoke billowing from the area. AFP -
A firefighter looks at debris at the site of the Israeli air strike. AFP -
A man walks past rubble at the site of the Israeli air strike in Bachoura. AFP
Before troops moved into the area, the military said it had carried out heavy air strikes and shelling on what it described as Hezbollah targets.
The Israeli army also said the 36th Division had in recent days started a new “targeted ground operation towards an additional objective”, to expand what it described as a “forward defence area” on the Lebanese border, aimed at pushing Hezbollah fighters farther away from Israeli communities near the frontier.
Further, the Israeli army has instructed all residents to leave southern Lebanon and move north of the Zahrani river. The warning was first issued on Thursday.
Lebanon's National News Agency also reported Israeli incursions in eastern and western parts. It said an Israeli advanced towards the outskirts of Aita Al Shabab in the West, accompanied by air strikes.
In the east, Israeli forces detained Lebanese citizen Qassem Al Qadri at dawn during a ground incursion into the outskirts of Kfarchouba, before releasing him.
A number of Lebanese are still being held in Israeli prisons, captured during the last war and since the 2024 ceasefire, some of them civilians.
Meanwhile, ground clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army have intensified on the southern and eastern outskirts of the town of Khiam, in the Marjayoun district, amid continuing Israeli artillery fire.
Hezbollah said it launched several attacks on Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon.
Israel’s bombing of Lebanon has displaced more than one million people across the country, the Lebanese government said on Monday. At least 912 have been killed in Israeli strikes since March 2, according to Lebanese authorities, including 111 children and 38 health workers.
Three soldiers killed
Isreal carried out a series of deadly strikes in Lebanon throughout the day, with extensive attacks in the south.
The strikes killed three Lebanese soldiers in two separate incidents.
One soldier died and four others were injured as they travelled by car and motorcycle in Qaaqaait Al Jisr in Nabatieh. At least one soldier was in a critical condition, the Lebanese army said.
Two soldiers were killed in an attack while travelling on a motorcycle on the Zibdin-Nabatieh road.
The Lebanese army is not part of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, which resumed on March 2 after the militant group launched attacks on Israel following the outbreak of the US-Israel war against Iran. The Lebanese Armed Forces have the responsibility of disarming Hezbollah as part of a ceasefire deal struck in November 2024.
Overnight, Israel carried out air raids on several neighbourhoods in the capital, hitting a residential building in Al Kafaat in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Two Israeli strikes also hit a residential building in the Dohat Aramoun area overnight, injuring an Ethiopian woman, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. The town, south of Beirut in the Aley district, has been bombed several times since March 2. It is not known as a traditional area of Hezbollah influence.
