The clips, many circulated through social media platforms including TikTok, Instagram and Telegram, show soldiers inside damaged homes and villages handling personal belongings, damaging property and posing for videos during military operations in southern Lebanon.

One widely shared image showed an Israeli soldier placing a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in the Christian town of Debel. The Israeli military later confirmed the soldier had been identified and said disciplinary measures would be taken, describing the conduct as inconsistent with military values.

Another video from the same town appeared to show a soldier striking a statue of Jesus with a sledgehammer, prompting criticism internationally and within Israel.Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “stunned and saddened” by the incident, while the Israeli military said it viewed the act with “great severity” and would pursue “appropriate measures.”

The controversy intensified after Israeli newspaper Haaretz⁠ published testimonies from soldiers and commanders alleging widespread looting by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

One soldier cited in the report said theft increased after military checkpoints were removed from certain areas.Another Israeli publication, Yedioth Ahronoth⁠, quoted a reservist alleging that troops took personal items including jewelry, blankets and photographs from homes near the Lebanese border.

The reports prompted a public warning from Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir, who ordered commanders to investigate incidents involving looting and social media posts by soldiers. Zamir said such behavior damaged the reputation of the Israeli military and instructed that potential criminal violations be referred to military police.

Human rights organizations and legal analysts say the growing volume of online material shared by combatants is reshaping the documentation of alleged wartime abuses, with soldiers increasingly recording and distributing footage themselves rather than such evidence emerging solely through witness accounts or later investigations.

Under international humanitarian law, pillage and destruction of civilian property during armed conflict are prohibited. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention bans pillage, while the International Criminal Court classifies pillaging during armed conflict as a potential war crime under the Rome Statute.

The incidents come as Israeli strikes continue across parts of Lebanon despite a temporary ceasefire announced on April 17. Israel says its operations target Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure, while Lebanese officials and humanitarian groups report extensive civilian damage and displacement.

Ori Goldberg told Arab News that Israeli society was facing a broader moral and political crisis over the conduct of the war, though he predicted accountability would likely remain limited to lower-ranking personnel.Residents returning to damaged communities in southern Lebanon described feelings of humiliation and violation extending beyond physical destruction.

A Lebanese resident identified only as Ali told Arab News that the looting of personal belongings carried emotional consequences that could not easily be repaired.

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The Lebanon Civil Defense said in a statement that one of its rescuers was killed after an Israeli strike targeted him on a road connecting two towns in southern Lebanon.The organization said the attack occurred despite a truce that remains formally in effect between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The incident came one day after another strike killed a rescuer affiliated with the Islamic Health Committee, according to Lebanese authorities.Israel has continued carrying out strikes across parts of Lebanon following weeks of conflict that began on March 2, saying its operations target Hezbollah fighters and military infrastructure.

On May 6, Israeli forces struck Beirut’s southern suburbs for the first time in nearly a month, killing what Israel described as a senior Hezbollah commander from the group’s elite Radwan force.The continuing attacks have intensified concerns among humanitarian agencies over the safety of medical and rescue personnel operating in conflict zones.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier this week that the World Health Organization had verified 152 attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel in Lebanon since the conflict began.According to Tedros, those attacks resulted in 103 deaths and 241 injuries.International humanitarian law provides special protections for medical workers, emergency responders and healthcare infrastructure during armed conflicts.

Rights organizations have repeatedly called for investigations into attacks involving rescue and medical personnel in Lebanon and Gaza.

Judge Dale E. Ho of the Southern District of New York issued an emergency order extending protections that were due to expire on Monday, allowing Yemeni nationals to remain in the United States while a broader legal challenge proceeds.

TPS allows foreign nationals from countries facing war, natural disasters or extraordinary conditions to stay in the United States temporarily, shielding them from deportation and granting work and travel authorization.In his 36-page ruling, Ho said Congress had established a clear legal framework for altering or rescinding TPS protections and criticized former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for failing to follow that process.

He also sharply rebuked comments Noem made in December on social media after meeting President Donald Trump, in which she called for a travel ban on countries she said were “flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.”“TPS holders from Yemen are not ‘killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,’” Ho wrote at the beginning of his conclusion, arguing that such rhetoric undermined the humanitarian intent of the law.

The judge cited individual cases including a pregnant woman in Detroit whose unborn child has a congenital heart condition not treatable in Yemen, and a former human rights worker in Brooklyn who said he remained a target of Houthi-aligned militias if returned.Before the ruling, protections for Yemeni refugees were set to end Monday, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Government figures show 2,810 Yemenis currently hold TPS status, while another 425 have pending applications.The Department of Homeland Security defended the administration’s position, saying TPS was always intended to be temporary and that Secretary Noem had reviewed conditions in Yemen and consulted relevant agencies before determining the country no longer met the legal standard for protected status.

“Temporary means temporary and the final word will not be from activist judges legislating from the bench,” the department said in a statement, adding that allowing Yemeni beneficiaries to remain was “contrary to our national interest.”The Trump administration has moved to terminate TPS protections for nationals from nine countries as part of its broader immigration crackdown, including Haiti, Venezuela and Ethiopia.

Rights advocates welcomed the ruling. Razeen Zaman, director of immigrant rights at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the decision made clear that humanitarian protections should not be transformed into “a deportation pipeline.”Yemen was first designated for TPS in 2015, roughly a year after civil war broke out in the country.

The Obama and Biden administrations repeatedly renewed the designation as fighting, displacement and humanitarian conditions worsened.In 2024, U.S. officials estimated that 2,300 Yemenis were eligible to renew protected status and another 1,700 were newly eligible under the program.

Judge Ho also pointed to recent federal court rulings that allowed migrants from other conflict-hit countries to remain in the United States, signaling broader judicial scrutiny of efforts to narrow humanitarian protections through executive action.

The incident occurred during routine water delivery at the Mansoura water filling point, a key facility supplying Gaza City, UNICEF said in a statement, adding that two other individuals were injured in the attack.The agency said it was “outraged” by the killings and stressed that humanitarian personnel, civilians and essential infrastructure must be protected under international humanitarian law.

It urged Israeli authorities to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.Israel’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The development comes amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that has been in place since October, ending two years of full-scale conflict.

Despite the truce, Israeli forces remain deployed across a large depopulated zone covering more than half of the Gaza Strip, while Hamas continues to control the remaining coastal territory.Violence has persisted since the ceasefire, with local medics reporting more than 750 Palestinian deaths, while militants have killed four Israeli soldiers.

Both sides have accused each other of violating the terms of the truce.UNICEF said the suspension of activities at the water site could further affect access to clean water for civilians in Gaza, where humanitarian conditions remain severe.

The three men, taken to Syria by their parents at the age of 11 or 12, were allegedly forced to participate in propaganda activities, policing duties and combat roles under Islamic State, according to legal filings submitted in France.

A source familiar with the case said the detainees are seeking recognition as victims of a war crime due to their recruitment as minors.Their lawyers, Marie Dose and Matthieu Bagard, said in a joint statement that the French authorities were failing to uphold obligations under international conventions prohibiting the use of child soldiers.

They argued that the men’s transfer to Iraq and continued detention amounted to inhumane treatment rather than victim protection.The detainees are among approximately 5,700 suspected Islamic State fighters of multiple nationalities transferred from Syria to Iraqi custody earlier this year, following shifts in territorial control in northern Syria.

France has opened investigations into the three men for alleged terrorism-related offenses committed during their time in Syria.The lawyers contend that, instead of pursuing prosecution, French authorities should prioritize repatriation and rehabilitation, citing the circumstances under which the individuals were recruited and their age at the time.

Hundreds of French citizens joined the Islamic State after it seized large areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and declared a so-called caliphate. Iraqi authorities, supported by a U.S.-led coalition, declared victory over the group in 2017, while Kurdish-led forces in Syria defeated its remaining strongholds in 2019.

Since then, thousands of suspected fighters and their families have been held in detention facilities across Syria and Iraq. Kurdish authorities in Syria have repeatedly called on foreign governments to repatriate their nationals, but most Western countries, including France, have proceeded cautiously, often handling returns on a case-by-case basis.

The recent transfer of detainees to Iraq has renewed scrutiny over their legal status and future, particularly in cases involving individuals recruited as minors.

Aoun said in a statement that the attack constituted a “blatant crime” and breached international humanitarian law, emphasizing that journalists are civilians performing professional duties and are entitled to protection under the laws of war.

The statement was released by the Lebanese presidency shortly after reports of the strike emerged.A Lebanese military source told AFP that three journalists were killed when their vehicle was targeted in the Jezzine area of southern Lebanon.

The victims included a correspondent affiliated with Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television and another journalist from Al-Mayadeen, a broadcaster seen as close to the Iran-backed group.

Al-Manar confirmed the death of its correspondent, identified as Al Shouaib, while Al-Mayadeen said its journalist, Fatima Fatouni, and her brother, who was working as a cameraman, were also killed in the strike.

The incident adds to mounting concerns over the safety of media personnel operating in conflict zones, particularly in areas experiencing intensified cross-border exchanges between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters.

Aoun’s statement framed the strike as part of a pattern of violations, asserting that it undermines established international norms governing armed conflict. No immediate response from Israeli authorities was included in the available information.

The strike occurred amid heightened tensions in Lebanon’s south region as spillover from the broader Iran-linked confrontation continues to draw in multiple actors across the Middle East.

Warning leaflets reportedly dropped in parts of Beirut and ongoing strikes in southern areas reflect an expanding operational environment, raising the risk to both civilians and media workers covering developments on the ground.