HRW Says Israel Is Preventing Civilians From Fleeing Lebanon by Bombing Escape Routes

Human Rights Watch said Monday that the Israeli military's attacks on key exit routes are preventing civilians from fleeing areas that are under heavy bombardment and hampering humanitarian aid operations, likely in violation of international law.

The group pointed specifically to Israeli forces' bombing late last week of the primary border crossing between Lebanon and Syria. The attack, as Al Jazeerareported at the time, cut off "a road linking the two countries that was being used by hundreds of thousands of people to flee Israeli bombardments in recent days."

Citing aid workers on the ground, the BBCreported that Israel's destruction of the crossing's main road "hinders both the movement of people and also food and humanitarian supplies" by preventing vehicle access. In desperation, some have still tried to "make the journey on foot," the BBC added, "with pictures showing families clambering over rubble and scrambling through the four-meter crater in the road to get out of the country."

Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a statement Monday that "by making a border crossing inaccessible at a time when hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing fighting and many others are in need of aid, the Israeli military threatens considerable civilian harm."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed the border crossing was being used to transfer weapons to the Lebanese paramilitary group and political party Hezbollah, but Fakih noted that "even if that crossing is used for military purposes, Israel would need to take into account the expected civilian harm compared to the anticipated military gain from the attack."

Since mid-September, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 2,000 people and forced more than a million others—roughly a fifth of the country's population—from their homes, leaving shelters overwhelmed. Many have been forced to sleep on the streets after fleeing Israel's bombs and ground forces.

"The shelters are not ready to host the number of displaced people and 629 are already full," Gheith Bittar, executive director of the nonprofit Shift – Social Innovation Hub, said in a statement last week. "We will get to a point where we won’t be able to cope. Without funds, we cannot sustain our support to the shelters. The ground invasion will only increase the number of people forced to flee, and we have already seen an increase on a daily basis with the continuous bombardment. The situation will only get worse as winter approaches."

"People are coming to us traumatized," Bittar added. "Most of them have lost their houses and relatives. Some of them were scared because of the scale of bombardment as they were fleeing, and many others because of their fear of the unknown coming to a new city. People are suffering, they have many, many issues to think about."

A displaced father of four is pictured with his children on October 6, 2024 in Beirut. (Photo: Nael Chahine/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanese civilians faced additional evacuation orders on Monday as the Israeli military sent more troops into the country and escalated its bombing campaign.

The New York Timesreported Monday that the IDF "told the residents of more than two dozen towns and villages in southern Lebanon to 'immediately evacuate' their homes and head north."

In the face of the intensifying assault on Lebanon and ongoing bombardment of Gaza, HRW said Monday that "Israel's key allies"—most notably the United States—"should suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel, given the real risk that they will be used to commit grave abuses."

"Israel's allies risk complicity in unlawful attacks," warned Fakih, "if they continue providing arms and other substantive support despite the obvious risk of atrocities."