The UN Office for the High Commissioner on Human Rights is warning that Israel’s deliberate attacks on civilian targets across Lebanon may amount to war crimes, because international law demands a distinction between military and civilian targets.
Since Israel started its new war against Lebanon on March 2, at least 912 people have been killed, including 111 children. Thousands more have been wounded and well over a million civilians have been displaced by various Israeli evacuation orders.
While Israel has made much of targeting “Hezbollah” sites in southern and eastern Lebanon, a lot of the strikes are aiming for residential areas, or targeting hospitals and ambulances. Displaced civilians have also found themselves targets in strikes, with Israeli planes attacking the tents of civilians who relocated to Beirut’s coastline.
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 10, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Israeli officials have been indicating that an increasing grim humanitarian crisis will be unfolding with their new war, with Defense Minister Yisrael Katz suggesting Shi’ites won’t be allowed to return to their homes in southern Lebanon until Israel is satisfied the situation in northern Israel is entirely secure.
That’s illegal displacement of populations and religious discrimination, but relatively tame compared to a week prior when Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed to see the suburbs of Beirut looking like the Gaza Strip, which UN officials similarly said was an “unacceptable” threat.
Since Israel notoriously is facing war crimes charges related to its ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, threatening to replicate those crimes in Lebanon is a particularly sensitive issue. Conspicuous targeting of civilians within Lebanon only compounds those concerns.
In addition to attacking the displaced and health care workers, Israeli strikes are increasingly targeting the Lebanese military as well. Three Lebanese soldiers were reported killed Tuesday, according to the Lebanese Army.
