Lebanon: Israel must immediately stop using unlawful mass displacement orders and inflicting terror on civilians

Image: Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on the village of Taybeh in southern Lebanon [Source: Al Jazeera]

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) categorically condemns the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) imposition of blanket displacement orders, which have caused severe panic, upheaval and homelessness among over one million civilians across Lebanon, nearly one fifth of the country’s population. The ICJ calls on Israel to immediately stop this unlawful practice and to ensure the safe return of the displaced as soon as practicable.

“Israel’s unlawful displacement orders are both sweeping and reckless, and cause disproportionate human suffering in violation of international humanitarian law,” said Saïd Benarbia, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme Director. “The international community must immediately apply maximum pressure on Israel to halt these violations and to protect the civilian population.”

 

The ICJ also calls on Hezbollah to cease the practice of indiscriminate firing of rockets into areas populated by Israeli civilians.

 

Displacement Orders
In response to the unlawful military strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran on 28 February 2026, which killed the then Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, on 2 March, Hezbollah, a Lebanese armed group, launched a series of rockets into Israel. On that day, as hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah escalated, the IDF ordered civilians in southern Lebanon to “move immediately to areas north of the Litani River”. The order affected approximately eight per cent of Lebanese territory and hundreds of thousands of people.

On 3 March, the IDF extended its displacement order in southern Lebanon to more than 100 towns and villages before launching a ground invasion of the region. On the same day, the IDF issued separate displacement orders covering many areas in the Bekaa Valley, in the east of the country.

On 5 March, the IDF issued a further displacement order covering large swathes of the south of Beirut, instructing more than 500,000 residents of the Lebanese capital to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately”. On the same day, the IDF also issued further displacement orders across the Bekaa valley.

On 12 March, the IDF issued a further displacement order in southern Lebanon, encompassing the entire area south of the Zahrani river, resulting in approximately 14 per cent of Lebanon’s total land area coming under displacement orders.

Just a few hours after issuing the abovementioned displacement orders, the IDF initiated aerial bombardments across the areas covered by the orders, even though it would be near impossible for such a large number of civilians to be able to heed the orders and flee the areas concerned in such a short time.

Threats, destruction of civilian infrastructure and ground invasion
On 13 March, the IDF dispersed leaflets across Beirut, causing additional widespread panic throughout the city, including in areas where thousands of displaced persons had sought refuge. The IDF’s leaflets referred explicitly to its “remarkable success in Gaza” and to “a new reality in Lebanon”, and called on Lebanese civilians to “disarm Hezbollah” and to provide the IDF with information on one’s “neighbours”. On the same day, the IDF intentionally destroyed a major bridge over the Litani river in southern Lebanon, an essential civilian infrastructure for the movement of the civilian population in the region.

On 17 and 18 March, the IDF initiated further systematic air strikes on civilian infrastructure it claimed Hezbollah made use of, including the remaining bridges across the Litani river and petrol stations belonging to the Amana company. Additionally, the IDF extended its ground invasion in southern Lebanon, sparking fears of a longer-term Israeli occupation of the region, and further hampering civilian efforts to flee the displacement zones in the very south of the country.

Targeted trikes in non-evacuated zones: civilian fatalities and destruction of residential buildings
Since 2 March, the IDF has also conducted aerial strikes in areas beyond official displacement zones, often without prior warning. For example, multiple areas north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon were targeted before being the object of an extended displacement order, as well as two hotels in the Hazmieh and Raouche areas of Beirut, respectively, and the Beddawi refugee camp in Tripoli, northern Lebanon. In Ramlet al-Bayda at Beirut beach, the IDF also carried out a strike killing at least eight persons, including civilians who had been seeking refuge in the area after having been displaced by the IDF. In central Beirut, the IDF completely demolished an apartment block, killing at least six persons, and destroyed two floors of another apartment block in a residential area, while in Hadath, southern Beirut, the IDF destroyed buildings belonging to the Lebanese University, reportedly killing two academics.

Since 2 March, the operations by Israel have resulted in the deaths of at least 1,001 people, including 118 children and 40 health care workers, and the wounding of at least 2,584 people. Additionally, over one million people have been displaced.

Indiscriminate attacks
Hezbollah has also indiscriminately fired multiple salvos of rockets towards high-density civilian areas in Israel since 2 March in the context of the wider regional armed conflict.

International humanitarian law violations
Under international humanitarian law (IHL), States and non-State armed groups alike must abide at all times by the principle of distinction, which requires that all parties to an armed conflict may only direct their attacks against combatants or military objectives, and not against civilians or civilian objects. The parties to the conflict must also take all feasible precautions to protect civilian populations from the effects of attacks, including by giving “effective advance warning”, with adequate time for civilians to leave affected areas, of planned attacks against military objectives that may affect civilians, unless circumstances do not permit.

In light of the above, both the IDF and Hezbollah have violated the principle of distinction.

In addition, the IDF orders have violated the principle of precaution. As the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights noted on 6 March, “the breadth of the Israeli displacement orders makes them very difficult for the population to comply with”, thus calling into question the IDF’s willingness to keep the affected populations safe. Relatedly, the huge geographical scope of the orders fails to cater for the needs of the sick, of the elderly, of people with disabilities and others unable to relocate to great distances, or at all.

Furthermore, civilians who remain in an area that has been the object of a displacement order after it has been issued do not lose their civilian status or the protection afforded to them under IHL. Indeed, they may not be targeted solely for failing to comply with such orders. However, IDF aerial bombardments in areas covered by displacement orders strongly suggest that the IDF has violated this rule. For example, in a strike in Qlayaa, southern Lebanon, the IDF reportedly killed a priest while he attended a house belonging to a couple that the IDF had killed in an initial strike. The IDF has also reportedly killed dozens of medical workers within the displacement zone in southern Lebanon.

The forcible transfer of civilians, when not justified by imperative military necessity and the security of the civilians involved, is prohibited and, in certain circumstances, may amount to a war crime. In light of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s statement threatening to turn Beirut’s southern suburbs into “another Khan Younis”, a city in the Gaza Strip, as well as of statements by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on 16 March that displaced civilians in southern Lebanon “will not return home until northern Israel is safe”, and of the announced establishment of a buffer zone in the South of the country, the ICJ is gravely concerned that the IDF displacement orders, combined with ground incursions and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, such as the Litani bridge and residential buildings, may evidence a deliberate policy of forcibly removing the civilian population from territory the IDF is about to gain control of, including by making civilian life untenable in the affected areas. This is consistent with an IDF’s pattern already documented in the Gaza Strip of forcible transfers of the civilian population.

Finally, under IHL, the use of violence or threats of violence with the aim of spreading terror among the civilian population is prohibited. Israel is inflicting terror through its targeted strikes without warning in densely populated areas, and its unlawful use of displacement orders and the distribution of leaflets in Beirut, both of which explicitly threatened imminent violence against the civilian population, including through reference to the IDF’s recent widespread destruction of the Gaza Strip, Palestine.

In light of the above, the ICJ calls on Israel to:

• Immediately cease all blanket displacement orders that do not comply with the strict requirements of IHL;
• Ensure that civilians and other protected persons who do not comply with Israel’s displacement orders are not targeted, in full compliance with their continued protection under IHL;
• Stop violating the principles of distinction and precaution through targeted strikes without warning in densely populated areas, causing disproportionate harm to civilians and civilian property;
• Cease all attacks on civilian objects; and
• Cease the use of violence and the threat of violence to spread terror among the civilian population.

The ICJ calls on Hezbollah to:

• Immediately cease all indiscriminate rocket and drone attacks against civilian areas in Israel.

The ICJ calls on all States to:

• Immediately apply maximum pressure on Israel to comply with its obligations under IHL and international human rights law;
• Provide immediate humanitarian assistance to all those affected by the hostilities; and
• Call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and take concrete steps toward a sustainable political resolution consistent with UN Security Council resolution 1701 and the 2024 ceasefire arrangement.

Contact
Saïd Benarbia, Director, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme; t: +41 22 979 3800, e: said.benarbia@icj.org
Nour Al Hajj, Communications & Advocacy Officer, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme; e: nour.alhajj@icj.org