Nearly a quarter of the Lebanese population ordered to evacuate by the Israeli army
According to the Lebanese government, at least 1.2 million people have suffered forced displacement as a result of the war, the vast majority of them since Israel accelerated strikes on the country last month. More than 800 of the approximately 1,000 shelters set up are saturated.
The Lebanese population receives alerts and calls to evacuate from the Israeli army almost every day, often in the middle of the night. These warnings, calls to leave their homes ” immediately “are often followed by strikes whose damage exceeds the limits of the warned zones. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, nearly a quarter of the Lebanese population is now affected by a movement order from the Israeli army.
“Calling residents of nearly thirty villages to leave ‘immediately’ is not effective and suggests, illegally, that civilians who do not leave an area will be considered combatants”said Ramzi Kaiss, researcher for the Human Rights Watch organization in Beirut. Mr. Kaiss clarified that Israel – which typically issues its warnings thirty to ninety minutes before airstrikes – is required to protect civilians who refuse to evacuate, or who are physically unable to do so. TO DO.
Amnesty International also criticized Israeli evacuation orders issued for entire towns and villages. That “raises questions about the intention to create the conditions for mass displacement “, declared Agnès Callamard, secretary general of the organization, in a press release published Thursday.
