The Israeli tactics of mass expulsion of Lebanese civilians risk directly violating international law.
Israel’s attacks in Lebanon — and the threat of more to come — have caused more than a million people to flee their homes. This is nearly one-fifth of the entire population of a country that already hosts the world’s highest number of refugees per capita.
For the last two years, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has mapped Israel’s strategies of displacement in the occupied Palestinian territory, which have forced the people of entire refugee camps and neighbourhoods to flee, often under the immediate threat of air strikes or ongoing military operations.
We are now seeing the same tactics deployed in Lebanon. Israeli evacuation orders include large swaths of the predominantly Shia population in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut, roughly 15 percent of Lebanese territory. People have sought refuge with friends and relatives or in government-run shelters, or have simply set up camp along the coastline of Beirut, itself the site of a recent Israeli strike.
The laws of war stipulate that civilians cannot be forced to leave their homes unless imperative military reasons dictate, or the security of the population is at risk. The evacuation must be temporary, and people must be allowed to return once the hostilities end. In short, war is not a licence to expel people from their land.
In Gaza, the Israeli military forcibly displaced nearly all of its two million residents through an evacuation system that put people directly in harm’s way as they were pushed into ever smaller enclaves.
In the occupied West Bank in early 2025, the Israeli military’s Operation Iron Wall led to the ethnic cleansing of 32,000 Palestinians in three refugee camps, the largest displacement in the area since 1967. They remain barred by the Israeli military from re-entering their homes or returning to the locations of their homes that the Israeli authorities have demolished.
In southern Syria, where Israel is occupying some territory, HRW found that Israeli forces have carried out a range of abuses against residents, including forced displacement, seizing and demolishing homes and preventing people from returning.
In both Gaza and the West Bank, Israel said it was targeting Palestinian militants and their infrastructure. But this does not justify wholesale civilian displacement. Israel is obliged to consider alternatives: mass displacement is a measure of last resort, and the authorities failed to show in Gaza and the West Bank that they had explored other ways to accomplish their military objectives and ensure that any displacement is temporary.
On March 16, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said, “Shiite residents of southern Lebanon who have evacuated … will not return to their homes south of the Litani area until the safety of Israel’s northern residents is guaranteed.” Through this lens, the displacement of the Shia population looks less like a temporary military necessity and more like a move to permanently displace the civilian population based on their religion.
As the world watches scenes of mass displacement and destruction, countries with leverage over Israel should use it to halt ongoing atrocities, including by imposing targeted sanctions, suspending arms transfers, banning trade with illegal settlements, suspending preferential trade agreements, and supporting the International Criminal Court and its ongoing investigations, including by executing its arrest warrants.
The absence of accountability for violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza and the West Bank also needs to stop. Without meaningful international pressure and credible prosecutions for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Israeli authorities and their military will remain emboldened to pursue a strategy of forced displacement and permanent denial of return across the region.
The international community can and should do better. Governments should urgently act to end the potential forced displacement of civilians in Lebanon, ensure their right to return, and prevent further attacks on Lebanese civilians.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect media’s editorial stance.
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