United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Turk on Wednesday denounced the pager explosions in Lebanon that occurred the previous day, according to a report by CNN.

Turk labeled the event as a breach of international humanitarian law and urged for an “independent, thorough and transparent investigation” into the incident.

His remarks did not address the separate walkie-talkie blasts that took place in Lebanon on Wednesday, focusing solely on the pager explosions from Tuesday.

“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, as reported by CNN.

Turk further emphasized that those responsible for ordering and executing the attack “must be held to account.”

Though Israel has not officially responded regarding the pager and walkie-talkie explosions, there is widespread speculation that the Mossad was involved.

The New York Times revealed on Tuesday that Israel is suspected of executing the operation by inserting explosive material into a fresh batch of Taiwanese-manufactured pagers sent to Lebanon.

The pagers, ordered by Hezbollah from Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese company, had been altered before arriving in Lebanon, according to officials who spoke with The New York Times. Most of the devices were the AP924 model, though other Gold Apollo models were part of the shipment as well, the report stated.

Two officials mentioned that small amounts of explosive material, around one to two ounces, were hidden next to the batteries in each pager. A trigger switch was embedded in the devices, allowing the explosives to be detonated remotely.

At 3:30 p.m. local time in Lebanon, a message was sent to the pagers that appeared to come from Hezbollah’s leadership, according to two officials. However, the message was actually used to trigger the explosives.

Sky News, in its Arabic-language broadcast on Tuesday, reported that the Mossad had planted explosive materials within the pager batteries and then detonated them by increasing the temperature inside the batteries.

Hezbollah has accused Israel of orchestrating the blasts and has pledged to retaliate. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi condemned the attack, describing it as a “terrorist act” and holding Israel responsible.

{Matzav.com}