Talaado 15-10-2024 {HMC} The U.N. human rights office called Tuesday for an investigation into an Israeli airstrike that killed at least 22 people in northern Lebanon.
U.N. human rights spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva that the agency received reports that 12 women and two children were among those killed in Monday strike in the village of Aito.
“We understand it was a four-story residential building that was struck. With these factors in mind, we have real concerns with respect to IHL (International Humanitarian Law), so the laws of war, and the principles of distinction proportion and proportionality,” he said.
The Israeli military said Tuesday air sirens were activated in the Haifa region, while Israeli air defenses intercepted several launches that crossed into Israel from Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces also reported Tuesday killing dozens of militants in airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday that Israel “will continue to strike Hezbollah without compassion in every part of Lebanon, including in Beirut.”
Netanyahu told U.S. President Joe Biden that an Israeli retaliatory attack on Iran would target only military targets, and not oil or nuclear facilities, according to U.S. officials.
The officials were cited by the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, which both reported late Monday that Netanyahu made the pledge during a phone call between the leaders last week.
“We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interests,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Tuesday.
The Iranian attack came in response to Israel’s killing of Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, and amid a surge in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Source VOA NEWS
