UN says deadly Israeli strike in northern Lebanon should be investigated

An Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in northern Lebanon that killed at least 22 people needs to be independently investigated, the United Nations’ human rights office said on Tuesday.

"We have real concerns with respect to … the laws of war," Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the UN's human rights office said a day after the strike, as rescue workers searching through the rubble found more bodies and remains. Laurence said the UN had received credible reports that a dozen women and children were among the dead.

The Israeli military said it "struck a target belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation" and that it would look into reports of civilian deaths.

The apartment building hit in the airstrike was in the small village of Aito, in the country’s Christian heartland and far from Hezbollah’s main areas of influence in Lebanon's south and east. The strike was a shock to residents, and it exacerbated fears that Israel would expand its offensive deeper into Lebanon.

"I heard a loud noise, like a boom," said Dany Alwan, who lives next door. "We ran outside, I saw the dust and the smoke and the rubble. There was a body here, another one there. It was a really ugly and painful scene."

The three-story building had been rented out to the Hijazi family, which fled their home in the southern village of Aitaroun, according to Elie Alwan, Dany Alwan's brother and the building's owner. Some 1.2 million people have fled southern and eastern Lebanon, where the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has been concentrated.

As rescue workers rummaged through the debris on Tuesday, they found the body of a child, and later a small leg and other remains that they put together in a white bag. The Lebanese military watched as a bulldozer cleared heaps of twisted steel, destroyed olive trees, and crushed rocks.

Hezbollah response

Earlier on Tuesday, the acting leader of Hezbollah said the group would fire rockets into more areas of Israel until it ceases its airstrikes and ends its ground invasion of Lebanon.

Naim Kassem said Hezbollah is focused on "hurting the enemy," comments made in a pre-recorded televised speech delivered on the same day the United States said it sent a small team of troops to Israel to support an American-made missile-defence system.

On Tuesday, Kassem signalled that Hezbollah would ramp up attacks further south in Israel, which it has already done by targeting Tel Aviv and Haifa. 

Both Hezbollah and Israel have been in cross-border exchanges of fire since the start of Israel's war on Gaza on 7 October 2023. Since mid-September, Israel has increased attacks on Lebanon, targeting areas across the country.

Israel's war on Gaza has left more than 42,000 people dead, according to local health officials. 

"We cannot separate Lebanon from Palestine, or Palestine from the world," Kassem said.

Also on Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder announced the arrival of U.S. troops in Israel on Monday. The team will operate a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery there to defend against ballistic missile attacks from Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas, and has launched two missile attacks on Israel.

"Over the coming days, additional U.S. military personnel and THAAD battery components will continue to arrive in Israel," Ryder said.

Iran has warned U.S. troops would be in harm’s way if they launch another attack.

In Lebanon, Israel's bombardment and ground invasion have displaced more than 400,000 children in the past three weeks, according to Ted Chaiban, deputy executive director at UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency.