UN condemns 'extensive damage', after strikes on Lebanese finance firm

AFP , Monday 21 Oct 2024

The United Nations condemned on Monday Israeli strikes the night before targeting a Lebanese firm that, it said, caused "extensive damage" to civilian property and infrastructure.

Al Qard
This picture shows a damaged building at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted a branch of the Al-Qard Al-Hassan finance group in the southern city of Tyre. AFP

 

"We condemn the heavy Israeli bombardment of various urban and residential areas....various facilities affiliated with the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial association," the UN Human Rights Office in the Middle East and North Africa said in a statement.

The attacks caused "extensive damage to civilian objects," it said, including "residential properties, civilian infrastructure, and business premises".

The Rights Office added that the attacks also triggered "indescribable panic and another wave of displacement among residents of those areas".

"International humanitarian law must be always respected. Civilians and civilian infrastructure are not a target," it said, calling for a ceasefire.
 


A man collects documents next to a damaged car at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted a branch of the Al-Qard Al-Hassan finance group in the southern city of Tyre. AFP

On September 23, Israel escalated its air campaign against targets in Lebanon and sent in ground forces after nearly a year of relatively limited cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah.

Since then, the Lebanon war has displaced more than a million people, officials have said, and killed at least 1,489 people, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online

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