The UN's Human Rights Council will hold a special session on Friday to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and Israel's role there, the UN office in Geneva announced on Wednesday.

The request for the special session was made by Tunisia, which chairs the Group of Arab States.

In a letter to the president of the council, Tunisia asked for an immediate session to "consider and take action on the gross human rights violations by Israel in Lebanon, including the Qana massacre, country-wide targeting of innocent civilians, and destruction of the vital civilian infrastructure."

The 47-state Human Rights Council formally replaced the former Human Rights Commission and held its first regular session in June.

Special sessions of the council can be called at the request of any member country which gathers the support of one third of the membership. A special session was also held in July, at which Israel was condemned for attacks in Gaza.

Countries who backed Tunisia's latest request for the special session included Russia, China, Algeria, Bangladesh, Cuba, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan and South Africa.

The council has no enforcement powers, but can exert moral pressure on countries it deems to be violating human rights. Decisions can be approved by majority vote.