Amnesty International Urges War Crime Investigation Into Israeli Air Strikes in Lebanon

Amnesty International is accusing Israel of killing two dozen people, including children, during three air strikes in Lebanon in March, and urging them to be investigated for war crimes.The human rights organization, in a news release published on July 9, said it investigated the air strikes on the al-Thakana neighborhood in Tyre, the village of Irkay, and the al-Rahbat neighborhood in Nabatieh, on March 6, 12, and 13, respectively.Amnesty said 12 children, ranging in ages from 5 to 16, six women, including one who was pregnant, and six men were killed in the three air strikes.A Nabatieh resident told Amnesty: “There’s absolutely no military presence in the area; this is a residential neighbourhood, and there were no weapons at the site of the targeted house.”Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said the Israeli military had displayed a “callous disregard for civilian lives.”“These three devastating attacks are part of a well-documented pattern of unlawful Israeli attacks carried out in Lebanon, amidst a total vacuum of accountability,” Beckerle said.Israel was engaged in a war with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group in southern Lebanon between Feb. 28 and June 4, when a ceasefire was implemented.In its July 9 news release, Amnesty said it was reasonable to conclude that during the three air strikes in March, Israeli forces violated international humanitarian law by failing to distinguish between civilians and military objectives, and failing to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians.“The persistent impunity for unlawful attacks risks normalizing serious violations of international humanitarian law and sends a dangerous message that Israeli forces can continue to unlawfully kill and injure civilians unchecked, without any prospect for justice or reparation,” Beckerle said.Beckerle said the Lebanese government must grant the International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction over crimes in their country and initiate “credible, independent domestic investigations into crimes under international law.”Hezbollah TargetedIsraeli forces have been operating on the ground inside southern Lebanon and conducting air strikes, targeting what they say are Hezbollah terrorists who threaten communities in northern Israel.The conflict escalated after U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran on Feb. 28, prompting the Tehran-aligned Hezbollah to target Israel with a fresh wave of rocket and drone attacks, setting off a new chapter of fighting in the longer-running conflict along the Israel–Lebanon border.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said that Israeli troops would remain in a security zone in southern Lebanon to protect northern Israeli communities from Hezbollah.At the end of June, Israel and Lebanon signed a framework peace deal with U.S. mediation, intending to resolve months of intensified hostilities and to lay the groundwork for lasting peace.Under the framework, the Lebanese Armed Forces will gradually restore state authority across the country by carrying out the verified disarmament of Hezbollah and other non-state armed groups and dismantling their military infrastructure.Once disarmament is verified, Lebanese troops will assume security responsibility, reconstruction will begin, and displaced civilians will be allowed to return to their homes.Netanyahu said after the signing that one of the key features of the framework is that Israeli forces will be allowed to remain and operate in the security zone in southern Lebanon as long as Hezbollah does not disarm and “as long as there is a danger to the State of Israel.”Lebanese President to Meet TrumpLebanese President Joseph Aoun is due to visit U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House later this month.He is expected to face pressure from Trump to restore the Lebanese state’s sovereignty over parts of the country that Hezbollah considered its personal fiefdom.Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has pushed back against Hezbollah.A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) convoy drives through the southern town of Al-Mansouri, Lebanon, on July 2, 2026. Kawnat Haju/AFP via Getty Images“I am not looking for a confrontation with Hezbollah but neither myself nor anyone in the government will accept to be blackmailed by Hezbollah,” Salam recently told the LBC TV station.The ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, would be the body responsible for pursuing any investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in southern Lebanon.In November 2024, the ICC issued warrants for the arrest of Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”Israel and the United States are not members of the ICC.Netanyahu had previously condemned ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for warrants against him and Gallant as disgraceful and anti-Semitic.In February 2025, Trump enacted an executive order to allow for the imposition of sanctions on the ICC over its alleged bias against Israel and the United States.The Epoch Times reached out to the Israel Defense Forces and to the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.The Associated Press contributed to this report.