The UN aid chief warned Tuesday that southern Lebanon could become another occupied territory in the Middle East, as Israeli forces push deeper into Lebanon amid renewed threats to seize the area.
The aid chief, Tom Fletcher, drew parallels to Gaza, the Palestinian territory facing a humanitarian crisis, as he told the Security Council that the war in Lebanon has already displaced 1.1 million people.
“Given the trajectory that some Israeli ministers have described and given what we have seen in plain sight in Gaza, how will you protect civilians?” he said.
“Given the intensity of the coercive displacement that we are seeing, how should we prepare, collectively as the international community, for a new addition to the list of occupied territories?”
Earlier Tuesday, Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said the military would occupy a swath of southern Lebanon even after the war ends, following clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters during the invasion.
Katz’s statement was not the first Israeli declaration signalling an intention to occupy parts of the south, but it was the clearest since the Middle East war spread to Lebanon on March 2.
1.1 million displaced
Fletcher, who addressed the Security Council from Beirut, said he had witnessed “anxiety and tensions at levels I have not witnessed in many years, working in and on Lebanon.”
“In Lebanon, more than 1.1 million people have been displaced over the past four weeks, including more than 370,000 children,” he said.
“Over 200,000 people have crossed over into Syria in the past month. A cycle of coercive displacement is unfolding,” Fletcher added.
“Displacement on this scale, of course, heightens exposure to additional dangers, particularly for women and girls living in overcrowded and unfamiliar settings,” he said.
Lebanon’s UN representative Ahmad Arafa urged the Security Council to condemn the Israeli statements about a planned occupation.
Arafa also called for the Council to “take the necessary measures to compel Israel to halt its incursions and threats to Lebanon’s territorial integrity and political independence.”
Israeli ambassador Danny Danon said his country would not tolerate Hezbollah attacks against its citizens and would take “necessary measures to defend them.”
“We have no desire to remain or operate in Lebanon. Our goal is to protect our communities and to push the threat away from our border,” Danon said.
