Amnesty International is leading calls for a probe into Israel’s widescale destruction of civilian property in southern Lebanon, saying those actions must be investigated as war crimes.
The human rights organisation said on Tuesday it found Israel manually laid explosives and bulldozers to “devastate civilian structures, including homes, mosques, cemeteries, roads, parks and soccer pitches, across 24 municipalities”.
Erika Guevara Rosas, a senior director at Amnesty, said in the statement that the destruction had “rendered entire areas uninhabitable and ruined countless lives”.
In November 2024, a ceasefire ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of open war during which Israel sent in ground troops and conducted a major bombing campaign. Israel has been violating the ceasefire since, on a near-daily basis.
Amnesty said its analysis from October 1 of last year – at about the start of Israel’s ground offensive – until late January of this year showed “more than 10,000 structures were heavily damaged or destroyed during that time”. It added that “much of the destruction took place after November 27”, when the ceasefire took effect.
“In some videos, soldiers filmed themselves celebrating the destruction by singing and cheering,” it said, adding that much of the destruction was done “in apparent absence of imperative military necessity and in violation” of international humanitarian law.
Amnesty said it sent Israeli authorities questions in late June about the destruction but had not received a response.
“Given the scale of destruction carried out by the Israeli military, many residents of southern Lebanon have nothing to return to,” said Rosas. “The Israeli authorities must provide prompt, full and adequate reparations to all victims of violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes, both individuals and entire communities.”
Amnesty also urged states to end weapons transfers and other military support to Israel.
War crimes, damages, disarmament
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also previously accused Israel of war crimes in its latest war with Hezbollah.
In October 2024, HRW stated that Israeli attacks on Lebanese medics were apparent war crimes. In April 2025, it said Israel conducted indiscriminate attacks on civilians between September and November 2024.
Israel claims to target Hezbollah sites and operatives, but attacks from October 2023 to the day before the ceasefire killed nearly 4,000 people in Lebanon, many of them civilians.
In March, the World Bank put the war’s total economic cost on Lebanon at $14bn, including $6.8bn in damage to physical structures.
Under the November agreement, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back from near the border, with the Lebanese army deploying to the south and dismantling the armed group’s infrastructure there, a process the new government has begun.
Earlier this month, Lebanon approved a United States-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year, in exchange for an end to Israeli army attacks on its territory. Israel was to fully withdraw its troops from Lebanon, but it has so far refused. Hezbollah has refused to disarm.
