GENEVA

The UN human rights office on Tuesday said it fears a large-scale ground invasion by Israel into Lebanon would "only result in greater suffering," urging sides to pursue negotiations to end the current path of destruction.


"We are gravely concerned by the widening hostilities in the Middle East and their potential to engulf the entire region in a humanitarian and human rights catastrophe," spokesperson Liz Throssell told a UN briefing in Geneva.

Throssell warned that the situation may deteriorate further with a "terrible impact" on civilians and that it could rapidly expand to embroil other states in the region.

"With armed violence between Israel and Hezbollah boiling over, the consequences for civilians have already been terrible – and we fear a large-scale ground invasion by Israel into Lebanon would only result in greater suffering," she said.

She urged all parties to these conflicts to clearly distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian objects in the way they conduct hostilities.

"They must do all they can to protect the lives of civilians, their homes, and the infrastructure essential to their daily existence, as clearly required by international humanitarian law," Throssell said.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk has also urged all parties to “pursue negotiations to end the current path of destruction and violence that shows no end in sight," she said.

This came after the Israeli military announced launching a “limited and targeted” ground operation in southern Lebanon.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 1,057 people and injuring over 2,950 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Several Hezbollah leaders have been killed in the assault, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, most of them women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.