Israel’s alleged extraterritorial use of drones to execute Hamas ‘number two’ and six other people last week in Lebanon violated international humanitarian law, experts from the United Nations (UN) accused Tuesday.
“It is prohibited for all States to arbitrarily deprive people of their right to life in military or security operations abroad, including the fight against terrorism”, said those experts, in a statement.
The text was signed by the UN rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the fight against terrorism, Ben Saul, and his counterpart on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz.
Both recalled that these murders could constitute “extrajudicial executions”, given that Israel did not provide any legal justification for the attack nor communicated it to the Security Council, as required by article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
They also excluded the possibility of arguing with self-defense, since Israel did not present evidence that the victims were committing an armed attack against Israel from Lebanese territory. They also condemned the statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, who threatened to kill Hamas leaders anywhere in the world.
“There is no legal basis for geographically unlimited attacks against members of an armed group wherever they are,” they recalled.
In the statement, UN experts warned that the Israeli attack constituted a “dangerous” regional escalation of the Gaza conflict, a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and a “prohibited” use of military force against Lebanese territory, according to UN humanitarian principles.