UNITED NATIONS
\nThe United Nations condemned a massive wave of Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Wednesday, saying reports that hundreds of people, including civilians had been killed and injured were \u201cappalling\u201d just hours after the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire between the United States and Iran.
\nIsrael\u2019s strikes on Lebanon have been the heaviest since the conflict with Hezbollah broke out last month, even as the militant group paused attacks on northern Israel and Israeli troops in Lebanon under a two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire.
\n\u201cThe scale of the killing and destruction in Lebanon today is nothing short of horrific,\u201d U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said in a statement.
\n\u201cSuch carnage, within hours of agreeing to a ceasefire with Iran, defies belief. It places enormous pressure on a fragile peace, which is so desperately needed by civilians,\u201d he said. Turk\u2019s statement said a U.N. Human Rights team at the site of one of the strikes in the capital described a scene of devastation, and seeing several dead bodies amid the rubble.
\nThe attacks came within hours of the ceasefire announced between the United States and Iran following weeks of deadly hostilities that have disrupted lives, global trade and humanitarian operations in the Middle East and beyond. \u201cToday\u2019s wave of Israeli strikes came just as hopes for an end to violence and destruction were rising,\u201d the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert tweeted.
\n\u201cThis cannot go on. Neither side can shoot or strike their way to victory, \u201d she added. Israeli forces reported carrying out over 100 airstrikes in roughly 10 minutes, the top UN aid official in Lebanon, Imran Riza, said in a briefing to journalists in New York. He described the scale of bombardment as \u201cdramatic,\u201d saying \u201cit\u2019s been enormous, the level of these strikes.\u201d
\nAlthough casualty figures were not yet available, he said it was believed that hundreds may have been killed and many others injured. \u201cThe hospitals are overwhelmed, and of course, there\u2019s a huge, huge call out for blood donations throughout the country,\u201d he added.
\nAnother senior UN official, Blerta Aliko, was speaking to UN News during a pre-arranged interview when shelling intensified in Beirut, according to a report. She and other staff from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) left their offices and took shelter in the basement. When the interview resumed, the situation had \u201cbecome extremely critical.\u201d
\n\u201cI personally heard the sound of nine strikes. There have been over 40 strikes in Beirut, and hundreds more across the country,\u201d said Ms. Aliko, UNDP Resident Representative in Lebanon. \u201cAs of this moment, the Director General of the Red Cross has confirmed more than 300 casualties.\u201d
\nThe assault occurred amid renewed fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, which is taking place within the wider conflict between Israel and the United States against Iran that has also impacted several Gulf States. Riza said that since the start of the escalation when Hezbollah launched strikes into Israel on 2 March, more than 1,500 people in Lebanon have been killed, including 130 children, according to the health ministry.
\nDisplacement has also reached \u201can unprecedented scale.\u201d Some 1.2 million people, or nearly a fifth of the population, have been uprooted. This exceeds the scale of displacement following hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted in 2024. \u201cA lot of the strikes that happened today did not have displacement orders, did not have warning orders,\u201d he said.
\nWomen and girls account for roughly half of those displaced in Lebanon and they are \u201cbearing an unprecedented and intolerable burden,\u201d said Laila Baker of the UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA, speaking from Beirut.
\n\u201cI met mothers fleeing under the bombardment, carrying their children with nothing but the clothes on their back; pregnant women who spoke of searching desperately for care under fire, or giving birth in shelters without support or privacy.\u201d
\nUNFPA estimates that some 13,500 pregnant women are among the displaced. In southern Lebanon, 1,700 expectant mothers are cut off from any essential maternal care and 200 will give birth in the next 30 days at a time when the health system is also under attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS The United Nations condemned a massive wave of Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Wednesday, saying reports that hundreds of people, including civilians had been killed and injured were \u201cappalling\u201d just hours after the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire between the United States and Iran. Israel\u2019s strikes on Lebanon have been the heaviest since the conflict with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541043,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-541010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n