UN Rights chief urges renewed efforts for durable truce in Lebanon

GENEVA, Oct 1 (KUNA) -- UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk un Wednesday urged renewed efforts to bring a permanent end to hostilities in Lebanon, stressing that the continued suffering inflicted on the population despite an agreed ceasefire including the killing of over 100 civilians in the past 10 months is tragic and must stop.
In a statement issued in Geneva, Turk stated that since the ceasefire of 27 November 2024, the Lebanese Armed Forces say, Israeli occupation has committed thousands of violations of the agreement including alleged attacks on civilians and home demolitions while the Israeli occupation Defense Forces has confimed hundreds of airstrikes on what it claims were Hezbollah targets.
"We are still seeing devastating impacts of jet and drone strikes in residential areas as well as near UN peacekeepers in the south," the High Commissioner said.
He added that in one of the deadliest strikes five people including three children were killed when an Israeli drone struck a vehicle and a motorcycle in the border area of (Bint Jbeil) on 21 September.
The High Commissioner called for an independent and impartial investigation into the incident along with other incidents which raise concerns about compliance with international humanitarian law.
He reported that up until the end of September the UN Human Rights Office has verified 103 civilians killed in Lebanon since the ceasefire. There have been no reports of killings from projectiles fired from Lebanon toward Israeli occupation since the ceasefire.
Turk stressed that more than 80,000 people remain displaced in Lebanon as a result of the ongoing violence, adding that the situation for migrants and refugees already living in dire conditions before the conflict has deteriorated further.
"At all times during the conduct of hostilities civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected and international humanitarian law fully respected, irrespective of claims of breaches of a ceasefire," Turk said.
"Good faith implementation of the ceasefire is the only path towards a durable peace, and its terms need to be respected. I urge all parties to double down on transitioning to a permanent cessation as laid out by the UN Security Council," he added, referring to resolution 1701 which was unanimously adopted in 2006 to end hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli occupation. (end) imk.mt