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UN special rapporteur say Israel targeting civilians in Lebanon

Israeli air strikes into southern and eastern Lebanon has left at least 492 people dead, including 35 children, and 1,645 injured since Monday.

AA

Heavy traffic formed at the entrance of the city of Saida after residents of southern Lebanon, particularly from areas near the border, were forced to flee / Photo: AA

Francesca Albanese, UN's special rapporteur on Palestine, sharply criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon were solely aimed at Hezbollah, calling the claim false.

"Like the Palestinians, the Lebanese know that you are lying," Albanese said in a social media post on Monday, accusing Israel’s leadership of being "unscrupulous" and using violence to maintain power and advance a "settler-colonial agenda."

She suggested Israeli society might be "too hurt, traumatised or indoctrinated" to see alternatives to endless warfare.

Albanese also questioned why Netanyahu has not yet faced justice for war crimes, stating that both Palestinians and Lebanese may be wondering "why you are not in the Hague yet," referring to the Dutch city that hosts both the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed over 41,400 people, the majority of whom are women and children, following a cross-border blitz by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7 last year.

SOURCE: AA