Damage caused by Israeli strikes in Khiam. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'OLJ)
BEIRUT — Condemnations continued Monday in Lebanon over an Israeli strike on Bint Jbeil a day earlier that killed five people, including three children and their father, as Israel continues to violate the cease-fire reached last November.
The deadly attack, one of the bloodiest since the truce, coincided with the visit to Lebanon by U.S. Deputy Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus.
“Targeting civilians, especially children, is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and all conventions that guarantee the protection of innocents in conflicts,” Foreign Minister Joe Rajji said Sunday night. He called on the international community to “assume its responsibilities to put an end to Israel’s ongoing violations on Lebanese territory.”
Justice Minister Adel Nassar also denounced the strike, calling it a “categorically rejected crime.” In an interview with the Al-Jadeed channel, he added that “the decision on the monopoly of arms does not target any one Lebanese party in particular, but must be in the interest of all Lebanese.”
He warned that “any obstacle to the army’s plan could affect the [disarmament] timetable, but the decision is final and will be implemented,” noting that Nawaf Salam’s Cabinet has approved the army’s plan to disarm militias in Lebanon, including Hezbollah.
UNICEF also highlighted the deaths of the children on X, writing that “targeting children is unacceptable and cannot be justified.”
The agency stressed that “no child should ever pay with their life the price of conflict,” and reiterated “the need to immediately end hostilities to guarantee the protection of every child.”
Meanwhile, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller denied claims by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, who said in a Sunday statement that the affected family held American citizenship.
“While the situation remains unclear, indications so far show that the five victims are not U.S. citizens. In fact, one of them had previously obtained an immigrant visa application but had not used it,” Miller said.
Berri, in his own statement Sunday night, condemned the strike, which came after a meeting of the cease-fire monitoring committee in Naqoura attended by Ortagus. “The blood of these Lebanese children, their father, and their injured mother, who hold American citizenship, is now the responsibility of those present at the meeting in Naqoura,” he said.
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