Tue Aug 26 06:53:34 UTC 2025: ## Amnesty International Calls for War Crimes Investigation into Israeli Destruction in Southern Lebanon
**Beirut, Lebanon** – Amnesty International is urging an investigation into the widespread destruction of civilian property in southern Lebanon by Israeli forces, arguing that these actions may constitute war crimes. The human rights organization released a statement on Tuesday detailing the systematic devastation of over 10,000 civilian structures, many of which occurred *after* the November 2024 ceasefire that ended a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
Amnesty claims evidence indicates that Israeli forces manually detonated explosives and used bulldozers to destroy homes, mosques, cemeteries, roads, parks, and even soccer pitches across 24 municipalities. This deliberate destruction, Amnesty argues, was often carried out without any apparent military necessity.
“Given the scale of destruction carried out by the Israeli military, many residents of southern Lebanon have nothing to return to,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, a senior director at Amnesty International. She called for prompt and adequate reparations to be provided to all victims, both individuals and entire communities. Amnesty is also calling on states to halt all weapons transfers and military support to Israel.
The organization’s analysis, spanning from October 1, 2024, until late January 2025, revealed the staggering extent of the damage, with much of it taking place after the ceasefire agreement on November 27th. Shockingly, Amnesty reports that some Israeli soldiers filmed themselves celebrating the destruction.
This is not the first time Israel’s actions during the conflict have been called into question. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has previously accused Israel of war crimes, citing attacks on Lebanese medics and indiscriminate attacks on civilians between September and November 2024.
While Israel maintains that it targets only Hezbollah sites and operatives, the conflict from October 2023 until the ceasefire resulted in nearly 4,000 deaths in Lebanon, a significant portion of whom were civilians.
The devastation has taken a massive economic toll on Lebanon. The World Bank estimates the war’s total cost at $14 billion, including $6.8 billion in damage to physical infrastructure.
The November ceasefire agreement stipulated that Hezbollah was to withdraw its fighters from the border region, with the Lebanese army deploying in the south to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure. The Lebanese government has approved a US-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year in exchange for an end to Israeli attacks and a full Israeli troop withdrawal. However, Israel has so far refused to fully withdraw, and Hezbollah has rejected calls to disarm, raising significant challenges to the implementation of the agreement.
The allegations of widespread, post-ceasefire destruction are likely to further complicate the already fragile peace process and fuel calls for international intervention.
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