The UN has urgently called for the protection of civilians and warned of growing displacement and humanitarian needs in the ongoing Israeli-U.S. airstrikes against Iran and Iran’s retaliatory strikes.

UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani recalled the horror of a strike on Saturday, which reportedly killed and injured dozens of girls in a primary school in Minab in the south of Iran.

Ms Shamdasani said children and little girls were being killed at the beginning of the school day.

She decried backpacks with bloodstains on them, saying, “This is absolutely horrific. If there is any image that captures the essence of the destruction, despair, senselessness and cruelty of this conflict, those are the images.”

Ms Shamdasani underscored the fact that besides Iran and Israel, the hostilities have so far impacted 12 other countries, destroying homes, businesses, airports and energy infrastructure.

Ms Shamdasani said that UN rights chief Volker Türk had been “deeply shocked” by the impacts of the hostilities on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Mr Türk called for a “prompt, impartial and thorough investigation” into the circumstances of the Minab attack.

“The onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it. We call on them to make public the findings and to ensure accountability and redress for the victims,” she insisted.

Ms Shamdasani also stressed that if attacks are found to be directed against civilians or civilian objects or indiscriminate attacks, they are “serious violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.”

The OHCHR spokesperson expressed concern for the welfare of Iranians, given the government’s record of cracking down with lethal force.

She noted that the government is cracking down on a broad scale against those who oppose their rule and the new threats of senior officials against any expression of dissent at this time.”

She called on the authorities to safeguard Iranians’ fundamental freedoms and deplored people’s limited access to essential information amid a nationwide internet shutdown.

Since the conflict erupted on Saturday with Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran, Tehran responded with counterstrikes against Israel and other U.S. allies across the region.

Meanwhile, Babar Baloch, spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, has raised concerns over Lebanon, where armed militants Hezbollah entered the conflict, drawing Israeli strikes.

UNHCR reported that “heavy displacement has been reported across parts of southern Lebanon, the Bekaa and southern suburbs of Beirut”.

Israel issued evacuation warnings to the residents of more than 53 Lebanese villages and conducted intense airstrikes across all three parts of Lebanon, he said.

As of Monday, “the conservative estimates suggest that nearly 30,000 people were hosted and registered at collective shelters”, the official said.

According to media reports on Tuesday, Israeli troops entered southern Lebanon, following Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel.

Severe disruptions to the transport of goods due to ever-broadening hostilities in the region are also affecting humanitarian supply routes and those who rely on them for their next meal.

Regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at the UN World Food Programme, Samer Abdel Jaber, highlighted disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.

He said these “will complicate maritime routes and delays and driving costs for most of our operations that depend on those routes”.

“With seas contested and airspace closing, we’re looking at adapting and using our supplier networks in other countries like Türkiye, like Egypt, like Jordan and Pakistan to support overland corridors,” he said.

(NAN)