“What we are hearing is that among the 22 people who were killed were 12 women and two children,” said Jeremy Laurence, spokesman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.OHCHR).
“We understand it was a four-storey residential building that was affected. With these factors in mind, we have real concerns regarding (international humanitarian law), i.e. the law of war and the principles of distinction, proportion and proportionality. In this case (OHCHR) would call for a swift, independent and thorough investigation into this incident.”
Since the Israeli army last month escalated its offensive against Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, whose deadly rocket attacks on Israel have not stopped, the UN refugee agency, UNHCRreported that the The death toll in Lebanon now stands at over 2,200 since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
That number “continues to rise as the situation becomes more dramatic”said Rema Jamous Imseis, UNHCR Director for the Middle East.
More than 10,000 people have also been injured as a result of Israeli airstrikes and Israeli evacuation orders that have left more than 25 percent of the country “under a direct Israeli military evacuation order,” the UNHCR official told journalists in Geneva.
Worst crisis ‘in decades’
Some Across Lebanon, 1.2 million people are now displacedAccording to the country’s government, while the UN Aid Coordination Office OCHAwarned that all those affected are experiencing “the worst humanitarian crisis in decades.”
“Violence is pushing an already overwhelmed health care system to the brink, with devastating consequences for care. Attacks on health facilities are a violation of international humanitarian law. They must end now,” OCHA said in an online message.
“People are answering these calls to evacuate and they are fleeing with almost nothing,” said Ms. Imseis of UNHCR. “Many of them are forced out, sleeping under the sky as they try to find their way to safety and support.”
Aid breaks
Helping those in need remains dangerous and difficult, she continued, noting that “for the past three days in a row, we have had to approve, approve and reauthorize an interagency convoy movement that would now take place today.”
Desperate scenes have also been reported at Lebanon’s border with Syria more than 283,000 people have now entered northern Syria “seeking safety, fleeing Israeli airstrikes,” the UNHCR official said.
About 70 percent of these people are Syrians and about 30 percent Lebanese.
“We saw two women with about nine children between them, who described their ten-hour journey on foot to reach that point.
They had seen the impact of the violence immediately, an airstrike had hit a house 100 meters away and they literally fled with only their clothes on.”
Gaza: Horror in the hospital courtyard
In Gaza, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) condemned Monday’s attack on the courtyard of Al Aqsa Hospital, where people from northern Gaza were being moved. At least four people were burned alive, and dozens of others, including women and children, suffered serious burns.
“There are far too many children there with burns and scalds” who need treatment, so the hospital does not have the medicines, antiseptics and painkillers that are needed,” said UNICEF spokesman James Elder.
“During my last mission to Gaza earlier this month I discovered something called fourth degree burns; I met a little six-year-old boy, Hamid, with fourth-degree burns. So what we saw last night will again have been large numbers of people, including children, with horrific burns that the hospital simply does not have the resources to treat.”
More to come…
