AI accuses Israel of misleading evacuation orders in Lebanon, UNIFIL to stay in its posts

LONDON  (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Amnesty International accused Israel of issuing misleading warning calls for residents to evacuate areas in southern Lebanon and the southern suburb of Beirut, expressing its concern that the warnings are aimed at massively uprooting the residents.

“The Israeli army’s warnings to the residents of the Dahiyeh, the densely populated southern suburb of Beirut, were inadequate,” it added.

Amnesty said that it analyzed more than 12 evacuation warnings and maps and conducted interviews with residents in southern Lebanon and the southern suburb.

It explained that the warnings included “misleading maps”, and were issued at short notice in one instance, less than 30 minutes before strikes began in the middle of the night, on social media, “while many residents were asleep.”

The organization explained that “Israel’s warnings in southern Lebanon cover wide geographical spaces, which raises fears whether they are designed instead to raise a mass displacement.”

It indicated that “the circumstances created by Israel’s measures in southern Lebanon are risked by forced displacement of the majority of the civilian population there.”

Amnesty International said in its statement that “Israel issued orders for the evacuation of 118 towns and villages in southern Lebanon during the first week of October.”

She warned that these calls “do not make southern Lebanon a free fire area”, where the remaining civilians are seen as military targets, calling on “Israel to adhere to international law to reduce the damages of civilians to the minimum.”

Since late September, Israel has intensified its raids on various Lebanese territories, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Bekaa and the South, and announced on 30 September the start of land operations in the south.

For its part, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon “UNIFIL” announced its intention to remain in its locations in southern Lebanon despite the Israeli attacks in the past few days, as well as the Israeli occupation army’s direct calls, asking them to leave.

The spokesman for the UN force Andrea Tenenti said Israeli attacks on the peacekeeping force with tank shells and small arms fire had left two wounded members in hospital and knocked out some of their monitoring capabilities on the last two days.

Tenenti said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday, “Definitely, this is probably one of the most serious events or incidents that we’ve been witnessing in the last 12 months,” referring to exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

“We are there because the UN Security Council asked us to be there, so we are staying until the situation becomes impossible,” he said.

On Thursday, the UNIFIL peacekeeping forces accused the Israeli army of “frequently” firing on sites in southern Lebanon, which resulted in the injury of two peacekeepers, triggering international condemnation.

UNIFIL said an Israeli tank fired on Thursday at a watchtower at the force’s main headquarters in Naqoura, hitting the tower and causing two peacekeepers to fall out of it.

The Israeli army confirmed on Thursday night that its forces opened fire at the UNIFIL forces’ headquarters in southern Lebanon, claiming members of Hezbollah were present at the site.