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 “appalling” just hours after the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire between the United States and Iran.
Israel’s strikes on Lebanon have been the heaviest since the conflict with Hezbollah broke out last month, even as the group paused attacks on northern Israel and Israeli troops in Lebanon under a two-week US-Iran ceasefire.
“The scale of the killing and destruction in Lebanon today is nothing short of horrific,” UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said in a statement.
“Such 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,” he said.
Turk’s statement said a UN 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.
The 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.
“Today’s wave of Israeli strikes came just as hopes for an end to violence and destruction were rising,” the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert tweeted.
“This cannot go on. Neither side can shoot or strike their way to victory, ” 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 “dramatic,” saying “it’s been enormous, the level of these strikes.”
Although casualty figures were not yet available, he said it was believed that hundreds may have been killed and many others injured.
“The hospitals are overwhelmed, and of course, there’s a huge, huge call out for blood donations throughout the country,” he added.
Another 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 “become extremely critical.”
“I personally heard the sound of nine strikes. There have been over 40 strikes in Beirut, and hundreds more across the country,” said Ms. Aliko, UNDP Resident Representative in Lebanon. “As of this moment, the Director General of the Red Cross has confirmed more than 300 casualties.”
The assault occurred amid renewed fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah 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.
Displacement has also reached “an unprecedented scale.” 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.