GENEVA — The United Nations (UN) human rights office said on Tuesday (Oct 15) it had received reports that most of the 22 victims of an Israeli air strike on a building in northern Lebanon were women and children.

"What we are hearing is that amongst the 22 people killed were 12 women and two children," UN human rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told a Geneva press briefing in response to a question about a strike on Aitou on Monday.

"We understand it was a four-story residential building that was struck. With these factors in mind, we have real concerns with respect to IHL (International Humanitarian Law), so the laws of war, and the principles of distinction proportion and proportionality," he said, calling for an investigation.

At the same press briefing, the UN refugee agency's Middle East Director Rema Jamous Imseis said that new Israeli evacuation orders to 20 villages in southern Lebanon meant that over a quarter of the country was now affected.

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