Emergency services clear rubble from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Sour on Oct. 23, 2024. (Credit: Kawnat Haju/AFP)
On the sidelines of the Paris Conference organized to support Lebanon, a coalition of 150 international NGOs, primarily focused on development and humanitarian aid, called Thursday for "a cease-fire in Gaza, Lebanon, and Israel, as well as an end to impunity amid a growing humanitarian catastrophe and escalating regional conflicts."
"We, the undersigned organizations, call on all U.N. member states to ensure an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, Lebanon, Israel, and the region, and to put an end to the impunity that has allowed the continued and escalating atrocities committed by Israeli forces against civilians," the statement read. "Without accountability, there will be no red lines," the NGOs added, including the Lebanese Center for Human Rights, as well as several religious and community organizations — the Jewish Network for Palestine and the Quakers in Scotland. Oxfam and Emmaus International are among the largest organizations on the list.
In their statement, the NGOs described the war launched by Israel against Gaza, following the Hamas offensive that killed more than 1,000 on Oct. 7, 2023, as "the latest and most horrific surge of violence in the decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory."
"After a year of unimaginable massacres and destruction, the patterns of violence against civilians perpetrated by Israeli forces are spreading and intensifying from Gaza to Lebanon, while rocket fire from armed groups in Lebanon continues. We are now on the brink of even greater devastation across the region," they continued.
"Failure to act now is a choice — a choice that will fail to stop and prevent future atrocities," the statement added, before emphasizing that a U.N. Commission of Inquiry had concluded a week earlier that "Israel had committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and extermination by conducting relentless and deliberate attacks against medical personnel and facilities in Gaza."
Disregard for International law
The NGOs further stated that "the international community's blatant disregard for international law and the total impunity of the Israeli government in Gaza, the West Bank, and now Lebanon, have set dangerous new precedents for the conduct of war."
After a year of war, Gaza is practically in ruins, and more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bombings, with the country's military and economy heavily subsidized by the United States. Clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, which had been exchanging fire along the Lebanon-Israel border since Oct. 8, 2023, escalated this summer with Israeli bombings extending to the Bekaa Valley, Beirut's southern suburbs, and other regions of the country. Israeli drone strikes in civilian areas have also resulted in over 2,500 Lebanese deaths, most of which have occurred since late September.
The Shiite party, backed by Iran but lacking the same resources as the Israeli military, is attempting to contain the Israeli army’s ground offensive in South Lebanon and has sent several drones and missiles at targets far beyond the border, including in the suburbs of Haifa and Tel Aviv.
In their indictment, the NGOs condemned the fact that "Israeli forces have issued displacement orders covering more than 84 percent of Gaza’s territory and now 25 percent of Lebanon’s territory." They added that "these orders, combined with Israeli bombings, have resulted in the forced displacement of around 90 percent of Gaza’s population and over 800,000 people in Lebanon."
They also condemned "the killing of over 300 Palestinian and international humanitarian workers, and more than 1,000 healthcare workers in Gaza and 95 healthcare workers in Lebanon." The NGOs accused the Israeli army of destroying the healthcare system in Gaza and committing the same crime in Lebanon, also condemning Israeli attacks on the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), among other actions.
