Walkie-talkie blasts: attacks on Hezbollah kill 20 as Israel says military focus shifting north

A new series of extraordinary explosions aimed at Hezbollah – this time targeting walkie-talkies – has killed at least 20 and wounded more than 450 in cities across Lebanon, as international observers warned that the simultaneous detonation of thousands of booby-trapped communications devices may constitute a war crime.

The targeted detonations of the walkie-talkies came one day after more than 2,800 were injured and 12 killed by exploding pagers in an attack blamed on Israel that world leaders and diplomats have warned could lead to an all-out conflict between Israel and the powerful militant group despite efforts by the US and UN to avert an escalation with Hezbollah.

A source in Hezbollah confirmed that walkie-talkies used by the group were targeted in Wednesday’s attack. A senior security source said the individual explosions were “small in size”, similar to Tuesday’s attacks.

UN secretary general António Guterres condemned the attacks and called for restraint from both Hezbollah and Israel, while the UN security council was convened to meet on Friday to discuss the unprecedented operations in what appeared to be a massive supply chain breach by Israeli intelligence.

Guterres also suggested the operation may have been planned as a prelude to a major Israeli attack on Lebanon. “Obviously the logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a pre-emptive strike before a major military operation,” Guterres told reporters.

In a potentially related move, the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said Israel was shifting its military focus towards the front with Hezbollah, during a visit to an air force base on Wednesday.

“The centre of gravity is shifting northward, meaning we are increasingly diverting forces, resources and energy towards the north,” Gallant said, adding that the goal was to return displaced northern residents to their homes.

He further complimented the Israeli Intelligence Agency, the Mossad, for “great achievements”, but stopped short of claiming responsibility for the two days of attacks in Lebanon.

“I have said it before, we will return to the citizens of the north to their homes in security and that’s exactly what we are going to do,” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a video statement.

Related: What is Hezbollah’s role and influence in Lebanon?

Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed faction that controls swaths of Lebanon, have been trading attacks across a shared border in a battle that has threatened to escalate into a regional war.

Reports in Israeli media have suggested that Netanyahu and his military advisers may have decided to detonate the devices this week over concerns that Hezbollah was close to discovering the operation to booby-trap the group’s communications equipment, which was launched at least five months ago.

The attacks began just a day after Biden administration adviser Amos Hochstein met Netanyahu and Gallant in an effort to de-escalate tensions with Hezbollah. After that, the Israeli PM announced that returning tens of thousands of Israeli residents to their homes in northern Israel had become a key war aim, suggesting Israel could be preparing for further escalation.

US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who is visiting Egypt to discuss the US-led proposal for a Gaza ceasefire, appeared to suggest that Israel had timed the strike to derail a potential breakthrough in those talks.

When US and other mediators believed they were making progress on a ceasefire deal in Gaza, Blinken said, “time and again, we’ve seen an event that … threatens to slow it, stop it, derail it,” he said, regarding Tuesday’s explosions in Lebanon. Unusually, Blinken was not scheduled to visit Israel during the Middle East trip.

Meanwhile, diplomats and human rights organisations warned that the strikes, which targeted thousands of pagers and hundreds of walkie-talkies ordered by Hezbollah, were indiscriminate and violated human rights law.

“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,” said Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, in a statement.

“Customary international humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby traps – objects that civilians are likely to be attracted to or are associated with normal civilian daily use – precisely to avoid putting civilians at grave risk and produce the devastating scenes that continue to unfold across Lebanon today,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and north Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The use of an explosive device whose exact location could not be reliably known would be unlawfully indiscriminate, using a means of attack that could not be directed at a specific military target and as a result would strike military targets and civilians without distinction.”

“A prompt and impartial investigation into the attacks should be urgently conducted,” Fakih said.

The fresh waves of strikes marked a second day of chaos in Lebanon and in particular in Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut, where one of the walkie-talkies exploded at a funeral for three Hezbollah members and a child who had been killed by an exploding pager the day before.

Twenty people were killed and at least 450 injured as a result of the new round of explosions, Lebanon’s health ministry said. The ministry added that first responders had almost finished transferring people to hospitals.

Several solar power systems exploded in people’s homes across Lebanon, according to the National News Agency, injuring at least one girl in the town of al-Zahrani, south Lebanon. Pictures of exploded solar panels, fingerprint readers and other devices circulated on social media, though it was unclear whether they blew up by themselves or were near walkie-talkies that exploded.

Images of the exploded walkie-talkies examined by Reuters showed an inside panel labeled “ICOM” and “made in Japan.”

ICOM said in a brief statement on its website that it was aware of media reports that walkie-talkies with stickers bearing its logo had exploded in Lebanon. “We are currently trying to establish the facts and will provide updates on our website as new information becomes available,” it said.

It later said it was not possible to confirm whether it had shipped the walkie-talkies reportedly involved in the attack and that the batteries required to operate the device, of which sales had been discontinued about 10 years ago, had already been discontinued as well. It also said its products underwent strict regulatory processes set by the Japanese government.

The wireless communications company, based in the western city of Osaka, has offices in several other countries, including the US, Germany and China. The firm has previously said that production of model IC-V82, which appeared to be the model in images seen by Reuters, was phased out in 2014.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, told reporters the government was aware of reports regarding the walkie-talkies and that the government was gathering information.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel for Tuesday’s attack, with the former threatening a “fair punishment” for the explosion.

Pictures showed broken and singed communication devices amid scenes of destruction. The Guardian saw multiple pictures of an Icom IC-V82 two-way radio that had seemingly exploded.

In a video, a member of Hezbollah in the southern suburb of Beirut can be seen taking part in a funeral for fighters killed on Tuesday when a blast occurs somewhere on his body, knocking him to the ground and sending the crowd around him running.

While paramedics rushed to evacuate wounded from affected areas, a group of men attacked a UN peacekeeping patrol transiting through the city of Tyre in south Lebanon. A video showed men throwing stones at two UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) armoured personnel carriers on the side of one of the main thoroughfares in the city.

“The situation is under control right now. The Lebanese armed forces intervened but this is a serious breach of our freedom of movements,” Unifil spokesperson Andrea Teneti told the Guardian, adding that no injuries occurred, but there were material damages.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for either of the attacks, but reports suggest it managed to place explosives in thousands of pagers bought by Hezbollah.

The Israeli ministry of defense has also moved the 98th Division, whose forces until recently had been fighting in the Gaza Strip, to the northern region of Israel, after the cabinet’s decision to shift most of the military’s capabilities to the region. The 98th Division will join the 36th Division, which has been deployed in northern Israel for several months.

In addition, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) decided to deploy a limited recruitment of reserves in the north, including air defence, Home Front Command and Medical Corps personnel.

Related: ‘Sophisticated evil’: Beirut medics and civilians horrified by pager attacks

On Wednesday, Maj Gen Uri Gordin, head of the IDF’s Northern Command, visited a drill carried out by reservists of the IDF’s 179th Brigade, which is simulating fighting in Lebanon, including manoeuvring in enemy territory.

“The mission is clear: we are determined to change the security reality as soon as possible. The commitment of the commanders and the troops here is complete, with peak readiness for any task that will be required,” Gordin said in a statement provided by the IDF.

Netanyahu and president Isaac Herzog met for a security briefing on Wednesday morning, Herzog’s office announced. No details were released after the meeting.

Meanwhile, the IDF said dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon at the western Galilee in the afternoon, striking open areas. They did not cause any injuries.

A drone, allegedly launched from Iraq, was also intercepted by an Israeli fighter jet early on Wednesday morning, the IDF said.