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Canada has said that it “strongly condemns” Israel’s plans to occupy southern Lebanon and warned that Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity “must not be violated”, amid plans by Israeli forces to mount a major ground invasion of its northern neighbour.
Israel’s preparations to invade and take control of territory up to 30km (18.6 miles) inside Lebanon’s southern border come as the death toll in Lebanon from Israeli attacks has risen to at least 1,072 people, with almost 3,000 wounded, since the start of this month.
More than a million people have also been displaced by weeks of Israeli attacks in the south and east of the country, as well as the capital, Beirut, while warnings of a humanitarian crisis are being made at all levels, as Israel’s ground incursion looms.
Expressing “solidarity” with the Lebanese government and people of Lebanon, Canada’s Ministry of Global Affairs said on Wednesday that all sides in the conflict must “act in accordance with international law”.
“We urge all parties to protect civilians, refrain from attacks on infrastructure, health workers, and peacekeepers,” the ministry said in a statement.
On Tuesday, France’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot also said that Israel should refrain from its planned occupation of southern Lebanon, warning that such a move would have a dire impact on civilians.
“We urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from such ground operations, which would have major humanitarian consequences and would exacerbate the country’s already dire situation,” Barrot told the AFP news agency.
The French and Canadian statements come after Israel announced that its military will take control of south Lebanese territory up to the Litani River, some 30km from the Israeli border.
Israel’s Minister of Defence Israel Katz said the military “will control… the security zone up to the Litani”, adding that displaced Lebanese residents would not be permitted to return to their homes south of the river “until security is guaranteed for the residents of the north” of Israel.
Raising the spectre of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Katz said that Israel’s military was “following the model of Rafah and Beit Hanoon” in Lebanon, two cities that were effectively razed to the ground amid the war on the Palestinian enclave.
On Monday, Israel’s far-right Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich went even further in calling for Israel’s official annexation of southern Lebanon, saying that a “change of Israel’s borders” was necessary.
“I say here definitively… in every room and in every discussion, too: The new Israeli border must be the Litani”, he said in an interview.
Israel’s preparations to invade southern Lebanon have included bombing bridges spanning the Litani River and bombing Lebanese homes close to the border that separates the two countries.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called Israel’s attack on the Qasmiyeh Bridge on Sunday – a key to the south of the country – a “prelude to ground invasion”.
Lebanese state media cited the Ministry of Health early on Wednesday as saying that nine people had been killed in Israel’s most recent attacks on Lebanon.
Four people were killed in an “Israeli enemy raid” on the southern town of Adloun, and another two were killed in a strike on an apartment in the Mieh Mieh refugee camp, with four others wounded, according to reports. An earlier Israeli raid on the town of Habboush, also in the south, killed at least three people and wounded 18 others.
In northern Israel – as repeated air raid sirens sent residents to safety shelters – a woman was killed on Tuesday following rocket fire from Lebanon, Israeli authorities said.
