Civilians are at grave risk of abuse as the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Human Rights Watch said today. In the early hours of March 2, 2026, Hezbollah fired rockets and drones into northern Israel, after which the Israeli military carried over 70 strikes across Lebanon, including on southern and eastern Lebanon as well as Beirut's southern suburbs, killing at least 52 people, injuring at least 154 people, and displacing tens of thousands of people, according to Lebanon's Ministry of Social Affairs. No casualties were reported from the Hezbollah rockets fired toward northern Israel.
"When war crimes and other grave abuses take place with complete impunity, they are likely to happen again, with civilians paying the price," said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Allied countries need to put pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to abide by the laws of war and minimize civilian harm."
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have committed numerous violations of the laws of war in Lebanon with total impunity, including apparently deliberate or indiscriminate attacks on journalists, civilians, medics, financial institutions, reconstruction-related facilities, and peacekeepers, in addition to the widespread and unlawful use of white phosphorus in populated areas, among other violations.
Following an escalation in the hostilities between September and November 2024, more than 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, thousands of buildings and houses were destroyed, and entire border villages were reduced to rubble. Prior to the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah's attacks on northern Israel failed to take adequate precautions to protect civilians, using explosive weapons in populated areas and failing to effectively warn civilians of attacks.
After Hezbollah announced that it fired a barrage of rockets and a swarm of drones targeting the Mishmar HaCarmel Israeli missile defense center, south of Haifa, the Israeli military said that it struck a "senior Hezbollah terrorist in the Beirut area" and a "central Hezbollah terrorist in southern Lebanon." It subsequently announced that it had launched "an offensive campaign against Hezbollah" and an additional wave of strikes in Lebanon targeting "Hezbollah weapon storage facilities and additional infrastructure."
Lebanon's National News Agency reported on March 2 that the authorities had instructed Lebanon's security services to arrest those responsible for firing rockets from Lebanon.
Israeli strikes caused a mass exodus from the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to Agence France-Presse. At around 4 a.m., the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for more than 50 southern Lebanese villages and towns, telling residents to "immediately evacuate their homes and move away from the villages to a distance of at least 1,000 meters into open lands." The warnings stated that "anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives, facilities and weapons is putting their life at risk."
Several hours later, an Israeli military spokesperson called on residents who evacuated their homes not to return. The Israeli military issued at least 18 evacuation warnings on March 2 ahead of what it said were incoming strikes targeting the Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution al-Qard al-Hassan in Lebanon.
An armed group's use of a financial institution, association, or bank does not amount to aneffective contribution to military action, and therefore al-Qard al-Hassan is not a lawful military target under the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said. Membership or affiliation with Hezbollah, or other political movements with armed wings, is not in itself a sufficient basis for determining an individual to be a lawful military target. Guidance by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sets out that people who have exclusively noncombat functions in armed groups, including political or administrative roles, or are merely members of or affiliated with political entities that have an armed component, such as Hezbollah, may not be targeted at any time unless and only for such time as they, like any other civilian, directly participate in the hostilities.
International humanitarian law, also known as the laws of war, requires parties to a conflict to take constant care during military operations to spare the civilian population and to "take all feasible precautions" to avoid or minimize the incidental loss of civilian life and damage to civilian objects. These precautions include doing everything feasible to verify that the objects of attack are military objectives and not civilians or civilian objects, giving "effective advance warning" of attacks when circumstances permit and refraining from an attack if the requirement for proportionality will be violated.
Warnings that do not give civilians adequate time to leave for a safer area would not be considered "effective" under the law. Broad warnings unrelated to any imminent attack cannot be considered "effective" and may instead improperly instill fear in the affected population.
Customary international law prohibits "acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population." Statements that call for evacuating areas that are primarily intended to cause panic among residents or compel them to leave their homes for reasons other than their safety would fall under this prohibition.
Civilians who do not evacuate following warnings are still fully protected by international humanitarian law. Forced displacement is prohibited under the laws of war, except in cases in which civilian security is involved or for imperative military reasons. Moreover, some civilians are unable to heed a warning to evacuate, for reasons of health, disability, fear, or lack of any place else to go.
Human Rights Watch has urged Israel's key allies, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, to suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel and impose targeted sanctions on officials credibly implicated in grave crimes. Lebanon's judicial authorities should initiate domestic investigations of serious international crimes, and the government should accede to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Rome Statute and submit a declaration accepting the court's jurisdiction prior to the date of accession, including since at least October 7, 2023.
"Lebanon's government should act to ensure pathways to accountability for perpetrators committing international crimes on Lebanese territory, including national investigations and giving the ICC jurisdiction in the country," Kaiss said.
