Airstrikes in Lebanon violated international humanitarian law by striking civilian infrastructure and have killed civilians. This is what the head of the UN for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said about the attacks against the country by Israel, reports "Reuters", quoted by News.bg.
"Unfortunately, there are many instances of violations of international humanitarian law in the way airstrikes are conducted, where civilian infrastructure is destroyed or damaged, civilians are killed and humanitarian operations are affected," he pointed out to the media in Beirut.
Grandi visited Lebanon, where more than 1.2 million people have been displaced by a massive Israeli air and ground operation that Tel Aviv says is targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
Up to this point, the fighting was mostly limited to the border area between Israel and Lebanon, while Israel's war in Gaza against the Palestinian group "Hamas" was being waged in parallel.
Grandi stressed that all parties to the conflict and those who have influence over them must "stop this carnage that is happening both in Gaza and in Lebanon today."
More than 2,000 people have been killed and nearly 10,000 wounded in Lebanon in nearly a year of fighting - most of it in the past two weeks, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Israel claims that around 50 civilians and soldiers were killed.
Israel says it is attacking military capabilities and is taking steps to mitigate the risk of civilian casualties, while Lebanese authorities say civilian targets were hit.
Israel accuses both Hezbollah and Hamas of hiding among civilians, which both groups deny.
Grandi said the World Health Organization had reported "gross violations of international humanitarian law, particularly with regard to health facilities that have been affected in various locations in Lebanon."
Attacks on civilian homes may also constitute violations, although the matter requires further assessment, he added.
The fighting has forced about 220,000 people to cross the border between Lebanon and Syria, 70% of whom are Syrian and 30% Lebanese, Grandi reported, specifying that these are conservative estimates.
Israeli shelling of the main border crossing with Syria at Masnaa on Friday was a "huge obstacle" for the continuation of these flows of people, he pointed out.
Many of the Syrians leaving Lebanon have sought asylum and fled war and repression since Syria's civil war began in 2011.
Now is an opportunity for the Syrian government to show that "the safety and right of returnees to return to their homes or wherever they need to go is respected," Grandy pointed out.