Hitting Noncombatants
Spanish peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon coordinate their patrol with Lebanese military police in Marjayoun, southern Lebanon, on Oct. 8.AFP via Getty Images
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad accused Israel on Tuesday of targeting the country’s health sector. Thirteen hospitals across Lebanon have been completely or partially shut down since last October, when Hezbollah began launching rockets and missiles at Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, and Israeli attacks have killed more than 150 paramedics and health workers.
Israel’s military maintains that many of these sites are near Hezbollah facilities and that it “strikes solely on the base of military necessity.” It has also accused the militant group of using emergency rescue vehicles, such as ambulances, to transport fighters and other members, though it has not provided evidence of such activity, and Lebanese officials and hospital directors have denied those claims.
Last month, Israel launched a major campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing more than 1,400 people and displacing over 1.3 million. At least 400,000 of those displaced have been children, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban said.
Last week, international condemnation over Israel’s war strategy grew after its forces repeatedly fired on United Nations peacekeepers stationed in southern Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the mission (known as UNIFIL) on Sunday of “providing a human shield” to Hezbollah, saying its presence in the area makes the peacekeepers “hostages.” He urged UNIFIL staff to move 3 miles north to get “out of harm’s way.”
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, however, confirmed on Monday that the peacekeepers would remain in their positions. Any attacks on peacekeepers “may constitute a war crime,” a spokesperson for Guterres warned on Sunday, adding that “UNIFIL personnel and its premises must never be targeted.” Nearly 10,000 peacekeepers from around 50 countries are stationed in Lebanon to help oversee the Lebanese side of the 75-mile Blue Line, a boundary that U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 says no one can fire or move across without permission from the Lebanese government. UNIFIL says both Israel and Hezbollah have violated their international commitments at the line and beyond.
Israeli attacks in Lebanon injured five peacekeepers last week. On Sunday, 15 more peacekeepers suffered skin irritations and gastrointestinal reactions after smoke rounds were fired into their camp, two hours after Israeli tanks destroyed the main gate of their post in Ramyah and “forcibly entered” the premises, according to a UNIFIL statement. All parties must “respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and U.N. premises,” the U.N. Security Council said on Monday—remaining careful not to blame any one side.
Also on Monday, an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in northern Lebanon, killing at least 21 people. The strike followed a Hezbollah drone attack on an Israeli army base the day before that killed four soldiers and severely wounded seven others. “We will continue to strike Hezbollah without compassion in every part of Lebanon, including in Beirut,” Netanyahu said on Monday, acknowledging the deadliest Hezbollah strike on Israeli forces since the conflict began a year ago.
His vow follows reports that Netanyahu appears willing to limit Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Iran to military targets rather than oil or nuclear facilities in response to Tehran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack. Iran backs Hezbollah and Hamas in their fight against Israel. Netanyahu’s more limited response suggests that he may want to prevent a full-scale regional war, something the United States has been urging Israel to avoid. The Biden administration also told Netanyahu in a letter dated Sunday that Israel must increase the amount of humanitarian aid allowed to enter Gaza within 30 days or else risk losing U.S. weapons funding.