Amnesty International calls for investigation into Israeli air strikes on Lebanon as ‘war crimes’

Amnesty International on Thursday called for an investigation into three Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon carried out in March, saying they may amount to war crimes after killing 24 civilians.

In a report published on Thursday, the rights group said the three Israeli strikes “killed 24 civilians, including 12 children, and wiped-out entire families”, adding that they “must be investigated as war crimes”.

The strikes targeted homes in the cities of Tyre and Nabatieh, as well as the town of Erkay near Sidon, between 6th and 13th March.   

Kristine Beckerle, the organisation’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: “Within the space of just a week – the Israeli military obliterated entire families, including a dozen children, in Lebanon, demonstrating a callous disregard for civilian lives.

The organisation said the evidence it gathered provided “reasonable basis to conclude that “Israeli forces violated international humanitarian law, including by failing to distinguish between civilians and military objectives, by carrying out attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects, or by failing to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians.”

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