
Femena is deeply alarmed as the Israeli army ruthlessly escalates its military offensives in Lebanon and besieges Palestinians in Northern Gaza, where approximately 400,00 people reside. Israel’s recent strike on an apartment complex in a densely populated central Beirut neighborhood killed 22 people and injured at least 117, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. This was followed by an Israeli attack on a predominantly Christian town in North Lebanon, which killed 22 people. Meanwhile, the Israeli military has killed at least 220 people in its recent ‘surrender or starve’ offensive in northern Gaza, where thousands of residents remain trapped under a tightened siege that has blocked all food, water, and medical supplies from entering the area and is aimed at targeting anyone who moves. These growing escalations, and an anticipated Israeli retaliatory attack on Iran, threaten further destabilization and increase the possibility of an all-out regional war, which would have a devastating impact on millions of people, vital infrastructure, and the environment more broadly.
The Israeli strike on Lebanon on Thursday, October 10 targeted the Ras el-Nabaa area in central Beirut, with footage showing scenes of many residents in disarray, rushing out of residential buildings and gathering in courtyards. These strikes mark the third time since late September that Israel has targeted areas in Beirut outside of Dahiyeh––the southern suburb of Beirut that has been subjected to heavy bombardment on an almost daily basis. Beirut currently hosts many displaced people seeking shelter from regions in Lebanon that have been heavily bombarded over the past few weeks, creating a situation of retraumatization and unpredictable danger. So far, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 2,300 people, injured over 10,600, and displaced over 1.2 million persons, with a quarter of Lebanese territory under Israeli military displacement orders.
Using similar tactics and justifications as it has in its military offensive in Gaza, the Israeli army has also targeted health facilities, healthcare workers, and first responders. The humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has had to suspend its operations in several affected areas, as a result of Israeli strikes. According to François Zamparini, emergency coordinator for MSF in Lebanon, MSF cannot reach all affected areas due to the intensity of the violence, the damage to the roads, and the lack of guaranteed safety.
Furthermore, Israel launched operations on the border which it has quickly expanded with the addition of elements of four separate Israeli divisions into the ground campaign. Moreover, an Israeli strike killed two Lebanese soldiers and injured three others, shortly after it fired at UN peacekeepers in Lebanon for the second time in two days.
In Gaza, an Israeli offensive has besieged thousands of people in Jabalia camp and sent troops to the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya. The only major hospital in northern Gaza offering specialized care for children faces a devastating situation as the Israeli military launches new ground assaults and airstrikes. Israel’s Sunday night attack on Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al Balah in Central Gaza set fire to tents where displaced Palestinians had been sheltering.
The UN World Food Programme has warned that this ongoing offensive in Gaza is having a catastrophic impact on the food security of thousands of Palestinians, as the main crossings into northern Gaza have been closed––obstructing the delivery of food aid since the beginning of October. Makeshift kitchens and bakeries have had to halt their services due to airstrikes and the only remaining bakery in northern Gaza was hit by explosive ammunition. Furthermore, UN officials raised concerns that the ongoing offensive in northern Gaza could disrupt the second phase of its polio vaccination campaign set to begin this week. The death toll from the Israeli offensive in the territory has passed 42,000, of which more than two-thirds are women and children.
Femena expresses deep concern over Israel’s continued and growing military campaign and stresses the need for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. We urge the international community to effectively pressure Israel to accept a ceasefire and impose an arms embargo on Israel by Western governments, particularly the U.S. and Germany, Israel’s biggest weapons suppliers. The urgent demand for an arms embargo is supported by the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) January 2024 ruling concerning the plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the continued impacts on civilians. The Israeli government must also immediately withdraw from the south of Lebanon and refrain from occupying the south to create a buffer zone. We cannot ignore the history of Israeli military operations and the long-term negative consequences in Lebanon, including the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla in 1982, in Qana in 1996, the war of 2006, and Israel’s eighteen-year occupation of Southern Lebanon, which cost the lives of thousands.
Femena emphasizes that durable peace cannot occur without a just solution for all those residing in the affected region. This requires accountability for the wide-ranging war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by all parties to the conflict. It also demands the immediate end of Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, which has been deemed unlawful by the ICJ, and overwhelmingly affirmed by UN member states in a recent UNGA resolution.
As Israel’s current military campaign enters its second year, the death toll continues to mount and hopes for an end to the mass atrocities continue to dwindle, particularly among those most affected. The international community must act immediately to halt further military escalations and apply international human rights and humanitarian law consistently or risk the system’s complete erosion and collapse.