Israeli Strikes on Construction Equipment and Water Systems Hinder Rebuilding in South Lebanon
Reports from Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders and UN peacekeepers say Israeli attacks on construction machinery and water infrastructure in southern Lebanon are obstructing recovery and keeping displaced families from returning. The Israeli military says the equipment served Hezbollah's reconstruction efforts.
Israeli strikes on construction equipment and water supply facilities in southern Lebanon are slowing the repair of war damage and keeping some displaced residents from going home. That is the picture drawn by reports from Human Rights Watch (HRW), the aid group Doctors Without Borders and the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL, compiled in a Wired Middle East article published in November 2026.
Fear of using machinery
After Israeli strikes throughout 2025, some local residents began clearing rubble by hand. Owners of bulldozers and excavators were afraid to use them, believing that the mere presence of such machinery could invite another attack, said Ramzi Kaiss, an HRW researcher in Lebanon.
In a December 2025 investigation, HRW examined four attacks on heavy-machinery showrooms and maintenance facilities, plus a factory producing cement and asphalt. They took place between August and October 2025, after the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The organization reported more than 360 destroyed pieces of equipment and classified the strikes as apparent war crimes. The Israeli military said the equipment and materials supported, or were meant to support, Hezbollah's rebuilding of its infrastructure. HRW said it found no evidence of military targets and verified civilian uses for some of the equipment.
Water supply
By Israeli defense minister Israel Katz's own count, 23,000 homes and more than 60 villages had been destroyed as of October. Charlene Silvin, a Doctors Without Borders project coordinator, visited about 20 towns in the Bint Jbeil area and found no village that had escaped damage. Boreholes, pumps, storage tanks, filtration units and solar panels were damaged. In places, the group installed temporary plastic tanks or connected a filtration unit directly to the water source.
During UN consultations, local officials in Jabal Amel said about 6,500 displaced families could not return to a dozen villages inside the Israeli-declared "Yellow Line" military zone. According to UN estimates, roughly 330,000 people in Lebanon were still internally displaced as of September 29.
UNIFIL's mandate ends on 31 December 2026, and discussions on the UN's role after that date are continuing.
