Countries: Lebanon, Belarus, occupied Palestinian territory, Sudan Source: Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes. ISRAEL EXPANDS OFFENSIVE IN LEBANON AMID ATTACKS ACROSS GAZA AND THE WEST BANK On 16 March Israeli forces began expanding ground operations in southern Lebanon. The mobilization of ground forces adds to the destruction from Israeli airstrikes, which have been ongoing since 2 March. Israeli attacks have killed at least 900 people in Lebanon since then, including over 111 children. Amid these developments, the government has taken steps to approve the mobilization of approximately 450,000 Israeli reservists. Israeli airstrikes have leveled multiple residential buildings, often with several members of the same family killed together. The attacks are further straining Lebanon’s health system and increasing risks for medical personnel providing life-saving care. Over three dozen medical staff have been killed, including 12 in a single attack alone on 13 March after a healthcare center was struck in southern Lebanon. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned that deliberate attacks on civilians or civilian objects amount to war crimes. Israel has also issued mass evacuation orders across an estimated fourteen percent of Lebanon’s territory. These orders have forcibly displaced over one million people, nearly 300,000 of them children. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has signaled that displaced residents will not be allowed to return home until the safety of northern Israeli communities from Hezbollah is guaranteed, raising fears about a prolonged occupation by Israeli forces. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Canada issued a joint statement calling for an expanded Israeli ground offensive to be “averted.” Prior to Israel’s