Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoOHCHR / LEBANON ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: OHCHR / LEBANON ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES
TRT: 03:44
SOURCE: OHCHR / UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 MARCH 2026, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English)Thameen Al-Kheetan, UN Human Rights Spokesperson (OHCHR):
“Another tragic chapter in Lebanon’s history is being written, bringing more suffering to civilians. Since 2 March, at least 886 people have been killed, including at least 111 children, according to Lebanese authorities. Israeli airstrikes have destroyed hundreds of homes and civilian infrastructure, including healthcare facilities. At the same time, Hezbollah fighters have launched indiscriminate barrages of rockets at Israel, injuring people and causing damage to residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.”
4. Wide shot, briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Thameen Al-Kheetan, UN Human Rights Spokesperson (OHCHR):
“In many instances, Israeli airstrikes have destroyed entire residential buildings in dense urban environments, with multiple members of the same family, including women and children, often killed together. Such attacks raise serious concerns under international humanitarian law.”
6. Wide shot, briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Thameen Al-Kheetan, UN Human Rights Spokesperson (OHCHR):
“Deliberately attacking civilians or civilian objects amounts to a war crime. In addition, international law provides for specific protections for healthcare workers as well as people at heightened risk, such as the elderly, women, and displaced people.”
8. Wide shot, briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Thameen Al-Kheetan, UN Human Rights Spokesperson (OHCHR):
“Meanwhile, Israel has extended its extensive warnings and displacement orders across southern Lebanon, adding the region between the Litani and Zahrani rivers to the broad swath of Lebanese territory already covered by such measures. These orders may amount to forced displacement, prohibited under international humanitarian law.”
10. Wide shot, briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Thameen Al-Kheetan, UN Human Rights Spokesperson (OHCHR):
“Large numbers of displaced people have lost their homes and are left without any safe place to stay. Entire families are sleeping in makeshift tents on the streets, exposed to harsh weather such as the recent storms.”
12. Wide shot, briefing room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Thameen Al-Kheetan, UN Human Rights Spokesperson (OHCHR):
“With this displacement comes a wide array of human rights concerns: proper healthcare, sufficient food and drinking water are lacking. Education has been interrupted for another academic year, freedom of movement no longer exists, and livelihoods have now been lost. And while people are displaced, Israeli attacks are destroying and damaging their houses, farmland and other civilian infrastructure.”
14. Wide shot, briefing room
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Thameen Al-Kheetan, UN Human Rights Spokesperson (OHCHR):
“Statements by Israeli officials threatening to impose the same level of destruction on Lebanon as inflicted in Gaza are wholly unacceptable. Such rhetoric, coupled with the Israeli military’s announcement that it will deploy additional forces and expand its ground incursion, intensify deep fear and anxiety among the Lebanese population.”
16. Wide shot, briefing room
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following remarks on the impact of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon.
“Another tragic chapter in Lebanon’s history is being written, bringing more suffering to civilians. Since 2 March, at least 886 people have been killed, including at least 111 children, according to Lebanese authorities. Israeli airstrikes have destroyed hundreds of homes and civilian infrastructure, including healthcare facilities. At the same time, Hezbollah fighters have launched indiscriminate barrages of rockets at Israel, injuring people and causing damage to residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure,” he said.
“In many instances, Israeli airstrikes have destroyed entire residential buildings in dense urban environments, with multiple members of the same family, including women and children, often killed together. Such attacks raise serious concerns under international humanitarian law,” Al-Kheetan said.
People displaced by the fighting and living in tents along Beirut’s seafront have also been hit, and in recent days, at least 16 medical staff have been killed.
“Deliberately attacking civilians or civilian objects amounts to a war crime. In addition, international law provides for specific protections for healthcare workers as well as people at heightened risk, such as the elderly, women, and displaced people,” Al-Kheetan said.
International law provides for specific protections for healthcare workers, as well as people at heightened risk such as the elderly, women and displaced people.
“Meanwhile, Israel has extended its extensive warnings and displacement orders across southern Lebanon, adding the region between the Litani and Zahrani rivers to the broad swath of Lebanese territory already covered by such measures. These orders may amount to forced displacement, prohibited under international humanitarian law,” the spokesperson added.
“Large numbers of displaced people have lost their homes and are left without any safe place to stay. Entire families are sleeping in makeshift tents on the streets, exposed to harsh weather such as the recent storms,” he said.
Others remain in temporary shelters or with host communities, where overcrowding is reaching breaking point. Multiple families are squeezed into single apartments or shared spaces, with tensions rising amid soaring living costs.
“With this displacement comes a wide array of human rights concerns: Proper healthcare, sufficient food and drinking water are lacking. Education has been interrupted for another academic year, freedom of movement no longer exists, and livelihoods have now been lost. And while people are displaced, Israeli attacks are destroying and damaging their houses, farmland and other civilian infrastructure,” Al-Kheetan said.
“Statements by Israeli officials threatening to impose the same level of destruction on Lebanon as inflicted in Gaza are wholly unacceptable. Such rhetoric, coupled with the Israeli military’s announcement that it will deploy additional forces and expand its ground incursion, intensify deep fear and anxiety among the Lebanese population,” he stated.
