GENEVA, Nov 26, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The UN rights chief is gravely concerned
over the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and
wants a "permanent ceasefire" there and in war-ravaged Gaza, his spokesman
said Tuesday.

"The high commissioner reiterates his call for an immediate ceasefire to put
an end to the killings and the destruction," Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for
Volker Turk, told reporters in Geneva.

His comment came as Israel's security cabinet was due to meet to vote on a
proposed ceasefire with Hezbollah in its war in Lebanon, with the White House
voicing optimism that a deal was close.

The United States, European Union and United Nations have pushed in recent
days for a truce in the long-running hostilities between Israel and
Hezbollah, which escalated into full-scale war in late September.

The war in Lebanon followed nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges
of fire with Hezbollah.

The Lebanese group said it was acting in support of Hamas after the
Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

As truce talks intensified, Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes
killed at least 31 people on Monday, mostly in the south.

- 'Brutal on civilians' -

Laurence said Turk was "gravely concerned by the escalation in Lebanon".

He pointed to at least 97 people reportedly killed in Israeli air strikes
between November 22 and 24 alone, including eight children and 19 women.

Also last week, seven paramedics were reportedly killed in three separate
Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, he said, adding to the 226 healthcare
workers reportedly killed in Lebanon between October 7 last year and November
18.

"These are further indications of just how brutal this war has been on
civilians," he said.

Laurence warned: "Israeli military action in Lebanon has caused wide-scale
loss of civilian life, including the killing of the entire families,
widespread displacement, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure,
raising serious concerns about respect for the principles of proportionality,
distinction and necessity."

He also highlighted that Hezbollah was continuing to fire rockets into
Israel, resulting in civilian casualties.

"Most of these rockets are indiscriminate by nature, prolonging the
displacement of many Israeli civilians, which is unacceptable," he said.

Turk, he said, was insisting that "the only way to end the suffering of
people on all sides is a permanent and immediate ceasefire on all fronts --
in Lebanon, in Israel and in Gaza".