UN demands 'permanent ceasefire' in Lebanon, Gaza, Israel

AFP | Geneva, Switzerland
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The UN rights chief is gravely concerned over the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and wants a "permanent ceasefire" there and in war-ravaged Gaza, his spokesman said Tuesday.

"The high commissioner reiterates his call for an immediate ceasefire to put an end to the killings and the destruction," Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for Volker Turk, told reporters in Geneva.

His comment came as Israel's security cabinet was due to meet to vote on a proposed ceasefire with Hezbollah in its war in Lebanon, with the White House voicing optimism that a deal was close.

The United States, European Union and United Nations have pushed in recent days for a truce in the long-running hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated into full-scale war in late September.

The war in Lebanon followed nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire with Hezbollah.

The Lebanese group said it was acting in support of Hamas after the Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

As truce talks intensified, Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes killed at least 31 people on Monday, mostly in the south.

- 'Brutal on civilians' -

Laurence said Turk was "gravely concerned by the escalation in Lebanon".

He pointed to at least 97 people reportedly killed in Israeli air strikes between November 22 and 24 alone, including eight children and 19 women.

Also last week, seven paramedics were reportedly killed in three separate Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, he said, adding to the 226 healthcare workers reportedly killed in Lebanon between October 7 last year and November 18.

"These are further indications of just how brutal this war has been on civilians," he said.

Laurence warned: "Israeli military action in Lebanon has caused wide-scale loss of civilian life, including the killing of the entire families, widespread displacement, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, raising serious concerns about respect for the principles of proportionality, distinction and necessity."

He also highlighted that Hezbollah was continuing to fire rockets into Israel, resulting in civilian casualties.

"Most of these rockets are indiscriminate by nature, prolonging the displacement of many Israeli civilians, which is unacceptable," he said.

Turk, he said, was insisting that "the only way to end the suffering of people on all sides is a permanent and immediate ceasefire on all fronts -- in Lebanon, in Israel and in Gaza".

© Agence France-Presse