On March 28, 2025, the Lebanese Center for Human Rights organized an online discussion to launch its report titled "Israeli Attacks on Medical Personnel and Facilities in Lebanon: War Crimes to Be Investigated and prosecuted." The report focused on monitoring the war crimes committed by Israel in Lebanon, particularly those targeting medical workers, medical facilities, civil defense centers and their members, as well as humanitarian workers. The meeting was attended by a representative of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), representatives from several embassies, and non-governmental organizations to address the current challenges regarding Israeli attacks on Lebanon and discuss the report’s findings and possible steps forward.
The session was initiated by the President of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights, Wadie Al-Asmar, who emphasized the importance of documenting the war crimes committed by the Israel during its aggression against Lebanon. He stressed the commitment of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights to continue documenting and exposing these violations.
In the first section, two researchers from the center provided a legal analysis of the report’s findings, pointing out that attacks on protected individuals and facilities, such as those committed by Israel against hospitals and medical transport, constitute a violation of international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes. These violations not only cause immediate harm but also disrupt essential health services and create long-term humanitarian consequences. Furthermore, civil defense organizations, United Nations personnel, and humanitarian workers are protected under international humanitarian law, and targeted attacks on them represent an additional violation of international law.
In the second part of the panel, a researcher from Amnesty International in Lebanon presented the organization's key conclusions following the release of its report titled "Lebanon: Israeli Attacks on Health Facilities, Ambulances, and Paramedics Must Be Investigated as War Crimes." This was followed by a speech from a Human Rights Watch researcher, who presented the findings and recommendations from their report titled "Lebanon: Israeli Attacks on Paramedics are Alleged War Crimes," emphasizing that there is no evidence to support claims that ambulances targeted by Israel were used to transport weapons.
In this context, a representative from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights presented the commission's work in monitoring and documenting human rights violations committed by Israel, stressing the importance of accountability. A representative from Oxfam then shared how the "Coalition for Lebanon" was formed to address common challenges and work together to condemn Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law on Lebanese and regional territories.
The attendees agreed on the importance of documenting violations as a necessary mechanism for accountability and achieving justice for the victims, emphasizing the need for the rule of law. The importance of advocacy, storytelling from victims, and media coverage of human rights issues was a major focus of the meeting. This area serves as a reminder to countries and governments of their duties under the laws of armed conflict and international humanitarian law, aiming to protect civilians wherever they may be.
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About CLDH:
The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) is a local non-profit, non-partisan Lebanese human rights organization. It was founded in 2006 in Beirut by the Franco-Lebanese Movement SOLIDA (Support for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily). CLDH’s complementary components include advocacy, public mobilization, rehabilitation for victims of torture and families of enforced disappearances, the provision of pro-bono legal services for vulnerable groups regardless of nationality or status, and the organization of capacity building activities to key stakeholders in the human rights field.
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