Israel issues new evacuation orders for Lebanese residents

2024-10-04 07:36:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Israeli military warned residents of more than 20 towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Thursday to immediately evacuate their homes and move north as Israel continues its ground campaign against Hezbollah.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Arab spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee advised residents in a post at Platform X to move north of the Awali River to "save their lives." He warned that any move south would put them in danger.

"Hezbollah's activities compel the IDF to act against it with force," he wrote, adding that the IDF would notify them when it was safe to return home.

Adraee also issued a new evacuation order late Thursday for residents of the Burj al-Barajneh neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, saying they were near "Hezbollah facilities and interests."

Human rights organization Amnesty International said it was concerned by the evacuation orders, which have been issued to people in more than 70 towns and villages over the past three days. Residents have been ordered to leave their homes immediately, giving them little time to gather their belongings.

"We want to emphasize that these warnings do not foresee a safe zone in southern Lebanon and do not release the Israeli army from its obligations under international humanitarian law not to target civilians and to take all possible measures to minimize harm to civilians, Aya Majzoub, Amnesty's deputy regional director for the Middle East, told reporters in a telephone call from Beirut on Thursday.

The IDF said the army is currently present in the south "carrying out raids to contain and destroy the terrorist infrastructure of the terrorist organization Hezbollah," it said in a statement.

The IDF also said Thursday that Israeli warplanes killed Hezbollah commander Khader Al-Shahabiya in a strike on Wednesday. The statement said Shahabiya was responsible for the July rocket attack that hit a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, killing 12 children.

The IDF said its air force had "accurately hit" several Hezbollah weapons facilities; Hezbollah reconnaissance targets, including operatives; and other group infrastructure in the Beirut area on Thursday.

Lebanese health officials said Thursday that an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building overnight in Beirut, killing at least six people and wounding seven others. The ministry also said two people were killed and 14 wounded in Israeli attacks in Bekaa province in eastern Lebanon.

The country's health minister said on Thursday that more than 1,900 people have been killed since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in support of the Palestinian Hamas and Israel began retaliating.

The vast majority have died in airstrikes and other attacks since mid-September./ Voa