United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Turk on Wednesday condemned the pager blasts in Lebanon a day earlier, CNN reported.
Turk described the incident as an attack in violation of international humanitarian law and called for an “independent, thorough and transparent investigation.”
He did not comment on Wednesday’s walkie-talkie blasts in Lebanon, and his comments were only in reference to the Tuesday pager blasts.
“Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” Turk said in a statement on Wednesday which was quoted by CNN.
The UN rights chief also said that whoever ordered and carried out the attack “must be held to account.”
While Israel has not commented on the pager and walkie-talkie explosions, it has been widely speculated that the Mossad was behind them.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Israel carried out the operation by hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon.
The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, officials told The New York Times. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment, the report said.
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives.
Sky News’ Arabic-language news service reported earlier on Tuesday that the Mossad injected explosive materials into the batteries of the pagers and blew them up by raising the temperature of the batteries.
Hezbollah blamed Israel for the explosions and has vowed to retaliate. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi condemned the explosions, calling them a "terrorist act" and blaming Israel.