MP says Israeli occupation of south Lebanon is very dire

Southern Lebanon is facing a grave humanitarian emergency under Israeli military occupation, Lebanese MP Najat Saliba has said, warning that thousands of civilians remain trapped in their homes as violence intensifies.

In an interview with RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Ms Saliba said about 10,000 people were cut off in the country’s south.

“Israel is invading, and when they come to a village, they actually destroy all houses, and they burn the land.

“At the same time, we have almost 10,000 people, or probably a little more, who are stranded in the south and these people are very peaceful.

Lebanon was pulled into the wider Middle East conflict on 2 March, after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in response to the US-Israeli strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Israel has since answered with sweeping attacks across Lebanon as well as a ground assault.

Lebanon’s health ministry said yesterday that 1,345 people had been killed and 4,040 wounded since the start of Israeli attacks on Lebanon, including 1,129 men, 91 women and 125 children.

The ministry added that 53 healthcare workers were among the dead.

Three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed earlier this week in separate attacks in southern Lebanon.

Minister for Defence Helen McEntee was forced to cancel a trip to Lebanon following security advice from the Defence Forces.

More than one million people in Lebanon have been displaced since Israel began its latest wave of attacks on the country at the start of last month.

A scene of devastated buildings after Israeli strikes on the Dahieh district of Beirut

Ms Saliba said political leaders were coordinating with the international community and Lebanon’s government to keep a humanitarian corridor open so civilians could receive “the supplies they need in time”.

“This is of utmost importance to support those people, because they are the beacon of how we can resist by staying at home and by being very peaceful.”

Israel has said its presence in southern Lebanon is necessary to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah attacks.

But Ms Saliba said Hezbollah had made clear it would resist any attempt by the Lebanese armed forces to disarm it.

“They have threatened to turn their arms against the people and to declare a civil war if the Lebanese armed forces try to take their arms by force.

“They have threatened the Lebanese armed forces, and they have threatened people, ordinary people who are not armed, to turn their weapons towards them if anything like this would happen.

“They are using all kind of tools they have, all kind of arguments they have, so that they remain able to launch all these strikes against Israel,” she said.

Mourners gather at a cemetery on the outskirts of Beirut last month

The Israeli military said it had hit more than 3,500 targets across Lebanon in the month since hostilities with the Hezbollah militant group erupted.

Israel said it had killed about 1,000 militants in Lebanon over the past month, with strikes aimed at what it called Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructure, weapons storage facilities, launch positions, and command and control headquarters”.

Yesterday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem would face an “extraordinarily heavy price” for stepping up attacks during the ongoing Jewish holidays.

The warning came after Hezbollah said it had launched a string of rocket attacks on northern Israel late Wednesday and early yesterday, as Israeli Jews began observing Passover.

Mr Katz also repeated that Israeli forces “will clear Hezbollah and its supporters from southern Lebanon, maintain Israeli security control throughout the Litani area, and dismantle Hezbollah’s military capabilities across Lebanon”.

Additional reporting AFP