Report Launching by CLDH Lebanon: Israeli violations Lebanon since October 8, 2023

The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) presents below some of the major Israeli violations in Lebanon since the onset of the aggression against Gaza on October 7, 2023.  

Since October 8, 2023, villages and towns in southern Lebanon have been repeatedly bombed by the Israeli army. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of January 9, 2024, around 83,117 people (52% of them women) have been displaced from southern Lebanon due to ongoing Israeli attacks along the Blue Line. Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health has also reported 148 deaths and 641 injuries. 

Meanwhile, many global organizations have been monitoring various violations, which include the targeting of citizens and residents, the killing and injuring of numerous journalists, hospital bombings, destruction of agricultural property and crops, and other deliberate breaches of international humanitarian law amounting to war crimes. 

Using white phosphorous and incendiary substances 

Israel persisted in its use of white phosphorous in southern Lebanon, which is a clear violation of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (Protocol III):  

“It is prohibited in all circumstances to make the civilian population as such, individual civilians or civilian objects the object of attack by incendiary weapons.” (Section 3).  

on January 9, 2024, The Lebanese Armed Forces Command issued a statement, reporting that their forces, alongside UNIFIL, discovered three hoses used by the Israeli Army to pump incendiary material towards the Lebanese territory on the outskirts of the southern town of Labbouneh. 

Targeting of civilians, hospitals, and places of worship 

The National News Agency (NNA) reported the deliberate targeting of residential areas and the unlawful killing of civilians, a clear violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention related to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. For instance, on November 5, 2023, the Israeli army targeted a vehicle carrying civilians, killing three girls and injuring their grandmother. Human Rights Watch stated that this attack on civilians violates the laws of war and constitutes a war crime for which the Israeli army should be held accountable for. 

On January 2, 2024, an Israeli drone hit a densely populated area of Beirut’s southern suburbs, in a blatant disregard for the safety and security of all civilians in times of war enshrined in the aforementioned Geneva Convention.  

The same convention also categorically prohibits the infringement of hospitals in Article 18, which states:  

"Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm, and maternity cases may in no circumstances be the object of attack but shall at all times be respected and protected by the parties to the conflict.” 

Israel targeted the Mays al-Jabal Governmental Hospital in southern Lebanon, injuring one of their doctors. 

The National News Agency also documented that the National Evangelical Church, located in the center of the town of Alma al-Shaab, was subjected to bombing, resulting in substantial damage to the church shepherd's house on January 17, 2024. 

Through these attacks, Israel has violated the provisions of international humanitarian law and Article 16 of the Additional Protocol (Annex II) to the Geneva Conventions, which affirms that: 

"It is prohibited to commit any hostile acts directed against historical monuments, works of art, and places of worship that constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples." 

In the same context, Israeli shelling has persisted in the vicinity of public schools in southern Lebanon, forcing many of them to suspend operations. Consequently, a significant number of students have been compelled to discontinue their education, with an estimated 7,000 students displaced from schools in the south. While the Ministry of Education has devised an educational emergency plan, the number of students who have been denied access to schooling remains substantial. Presently, Israel's actions are jeopardizing the safety of children and school buildings, thereby violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, notably Article 26, which underscores the right to education. 

Targeting agricultural crops and livestock 

The Israeli army has repeatedly targeted agricultural crops and olive groves, which are often the primary and basic source of income for many families in southern Lebanon. According to the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Health, Israeli shelling has led to the burning of 426 hectares of agricultural land in the south and the destruction of 300,000 cattle, poultry, and beehives. These actions contravene Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, in particular Article 55, which states that: 

"Care shall be taken in warfare to protect the natural environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage. This protection includes a prohibition of the use of methods or means of warfare which are intended or may be expected to cause such damage to the natural environment and thereby to prejudice the health or survival of the population."  

Targeting journalists  

Throughout this period of aggression, there has been an attempt to assassinate and silence journalists in Lebanon and Gaza. In one incident, the Israeli army targeted a group of seven journalists in southern Lebanon, resulting in the killing of Issam Al-Abdallah, a photographer with Reuters Agency, on October 13, 2023. Notably, the journalists faced two consecutive strikes within a span of 37 seconds in an open area, far away from airstrikes. On November 21, journalist Farah Omar and photographer Rabih Maamari, in addition to their local guide Hussein Akil, were killed by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon while covering clashes in a location far from shelling and buildings. 

The targeting of journalists is in clear violation of the Human Rights Council resolution on the safety of journalists, as outlined in Article 79, Paragraph 1, of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which states that: 

“Journalists in war zones must be treated as civilians and protected as such, provided they play no part in the hostilities.”  

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch investigated videos and photos of the killing of photographer Issam Al-Abdallah, analyzed the fragments of weapons taken from the site, and verified them by witness testimonies. Both organizations concluded that "it was clear that the group included journalists and that the Israeli army knew or should have known that they were civilians yet attacked them with two strikes."  

In response to this incident, Lebanon’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, as well as a number of international organizations, sent two official letters to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, and the UN Special Rapporteur for the Protection of the Right to Opinion and Expression, Irene Khan, regarding the killing of Lebanese journalist, Issam Al-Abdullah, and the wounding of other journalists in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon. 

CLDH strongly condemns these attacks on civilians, agricultural crops, and places of worship, as well as the repeated violations of international humanitarian law in Lebanon and Palestine. CLDH demands that Israel, which is engaging in war crimes, be held accountable and brought before the International Criminal Court.