Beirut – Testimonies recorded by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor regarding Israeli forces looting civilian property in southern Lebanon are deeply concerning and indicate a clear pattern of theft during Israeli military operations.
These violations are not limited to killing civilians, destroying homes, and forcibly displacing residents. After control over residential areas is established, they reportedly extend to raiding houses, rummaging through belongings, and looting residents' money and personal effects, in serious violation of international humanitarian law and potentially amounting to war crimes under international criminal law.
The documented testimonies align with media reports and accounts from within the Israeli army, indicating that members of both regular and reserve Israeli forces have looted civilian property on a wide scale from homes and shops in southern Lebanon.
An Israeli force raided our home, and we were held in one room. After they left, I discovered that a gold necklace, three rings, and a bracelet were missing. They stole them
R. M., 36, from Ain Qana in the Nabatieh Governorate of Southern Lebanon
The repeated nature of these incidents, including cases reportedly committed in front of unit commanders or documented and shared on social media without any serious signs of deterrence or accountability, suggests that looting is not treated as a punishable offence within the Israeli army. Instead, it appears to have become a routine, effectively tolerated practice carried out under the cover of military operations.
The looting committed by Israeli army personnel, with the knowledge and possible facilitation of senior military officials and political leaders, together with its recurrence across multiple areas and the public nature of some incidents, means it can no longer be treated as isolated acts or field-level misconduct. Rather, it appears to have become an effective policy of the state and the army. This is supported by documented incidents across multiple regions, including in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Southern Lebanon.
The testimonies and data collected by Euro-Med Monitor are consistent with reporting by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which stated that Israeli forces in southern Lebanon stole a wide range of civilian property, including motorcycles, electrical appliances, furniture, and valuable personal belongings, and transported them openly in military vehicles.
The public nature of these acts, the types of items looted, and the use of military vehicles to transport them suggest a structural environment of impunity and institutional tolerance for looting, enabling such crimes to be committed repeatedly without deterrence.
In testimony to Euro-Med Monitor's team, a woman identified by the initials R. M., 36, from Ain Qana in the Nabatieh Governorate of Southern Lebanon, said: "An Israeli force raided our home, and we were held in one room. After they left, I discovered that a gold necklace, three rings, and a bracelet were missing. They stole them."
Another woman, Z. A., 39, from a village in southern Lebanon, said she was forced to leave her home due to Israeli warnings and bombardment. She explained that the day after the latest ceasefire, her husband returned with others to check the house and found that a painting and a violin were missing. She added, "Because the situation is unstable, we returned to displacement, and we are still displaced to this day."
In another testimony, M. K., 41, from a village that Israeli forces had entered and later withdrew from, said: "When we returned home, we found it partially destroyed, but the shock was when I found out that all my gold jewellery had disappeared from the cupboard. The soldiers also left a mess behind them."
These incidents in southern Lebanon reflect a pattern previously documented by Euro-Med Monitor in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in the Gaza Strip, since October 2023.
The looting of civilian property by Israeli forces has not been limited to isolated cases during home raids, searches, or forced displacement. Videos posted by Israeli soldiers themselves show them stealing and rummaging through belongings inside Palestinian homes, alongside reports of cash, gold, and other valuables being stolen, amounting to millions of dollars during the first months of the ground operation.
Women in the Gaza Strip reported being stopped at Israeli military checkpoints during the mass forced displacement southward. During searches, they said they were forced to hand over their gold jewellery, or it was taken by force, and they were then compelled to leave without it.
In the occupied West Bank, Euro-Med Monitor has for years documented a similar pattern of looting of Palestinian property across wide areas, including villages and pastoral communities in the Jordan Valley, Masafer Yatta, and southern Hebron, as well as cities, refugee camps, and towns in the north and centre of the West Bank.
These acts reportedly occur during home raids, search operations, and at military checkpoints, either directly by Israeli army and police personnel or through settler attacks carried out under the protection of Israeli forces, or in their presence, without effective intervention. This takes place within a broader context of violence and threats aimed at intimidating residents and forcing them to leave their land.
The looting of private property during armed conflict is prohibited under international humanitarian law and constitutes a war crime under international criminal law. The Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly prohibits pillage in Article 33 and does not permit it on grounds of military necessity. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court also classifies the pillaging of any town or place, even when taken by assault, as a war crime.
An independent and effective international investigation into the looting of civilian property in southern Lebanon is essential, as such conduct is prohibited under international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime. The investigation should include the collection and preservation of evidence and the identification of individual criminal responsibility.
The Lebanese government must take immediate steps to join the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court or otherwise enable the Court to examine international crimes committed on its territory. This would help ensure that such violations do not fall outside an international accountability framework, whether through individual criminal responsibility for those who committed, ordered, assisted, or otherwise contributed to looting, or through command responsibility for military and political leaders who had effective authority over the perpetrators, knew or should have known of the acts, and failed to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent them, stop them, or punish those responsible.
Euro-Med Monitor stresses the need to activate the jurisdiction of national courts in countries whose laws allow it, whether through personal jurisdiction where a link exists based on the nationality of the perpetrators or victims, or through universal jurisdiction over serious international crimes, including war crimes.
The international community must stop claiming it is unable to hold Israel accountable for its crimes. Continued tolerance and the absence of deterrent measures have entrenched impunity, leaving civilians' lives, property, and fundamental rights exposed to violations without accountability.
Euro-Med Monitor calls for effective economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel, a halt to the export and import of weapons, ammunition, and military and security equipment, and the suspension of all military and intelligence cooperation. It also urges an end to political and economic support that contributes to or shields these crimes, a boycott of entities, institutions, and companies involved in or benefiting from violations, and the prosecution of those responsible before competent national and international courts.
