War crimes in the 2006 Lebanon War
"[17] A statement issued by Human Rights Watch supported Amnesty's conclusion and "found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack."
[18] Human Rights Watch stated that "while it may be unlawful... to place forces, weapons and ammunition within or near densely populated areas, it is only shielding when there is a specific intent to use the civilians to deter an attack.
"[19] After his mission to coordinate aid efforts in Lebanon, U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland stated that "Hizbullah must stop this cowardly blending... among women and children," and that "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this.
As a result, the key battlefields in the land campaign south of the Litani River were mostly devoid of civilians, and IDF participants consistently report little or no meaningful intermingling of Hezbollah fighters and noncombatants.
Upon his visit to Lebanon, United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland accused Hezbollah of "cowardly blending ... among women and children.
[44][45][46] The Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, a media watchdog group focused on monitoring any coverage it considers unfair to Israel, suggested that nearly half, or even most, of Lebanese casualties were combatants.
[50] Every major city in northern Israel was hit, including Haifa, Nazareth, Tiberias, Nahariya, Safed, Afula,[52] Kiryat Shmona, Karmiel, and Ma'a lot, along with dozens of kibbutzim, moshavim, and Druze and Arab villages.
[91] The deadly air strike, which followed reports of Israeli attacks on two clearly marked Red Cross ambulances in Qana one week before on 24 July[92] and Israel's 1996 shelling, sparked angry denunciations in Lebanon and abroad.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora revoked US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's invitation to Lebanon and said, "Out of respect for the souls of our innocent martyrs and the remains of our children buried under the rubble of Qana, we scream out to our fellow Lebanese and to other Arab brothers and to the whole world to stand united in the face of the Israeli war criminals.
"[93] An IDF source said that aerial attacks were ruled out in favor of ground troops in the fighting with Hezbollah in the Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil, for fear of harming the few hundred civilians thought to remain.
"[98] On 24 July, it was reported that Army Chief of Staff Halutz, according to a "senior officer", had issued orders to destroy 10 multi-story buildings in southern Beirut for every rocket fired on Haifa.
[109] The Israeli Air Force issued warnings to civilians prior to military actions by way of leaflet droppings to evacuate areas in which it was intending to strike against Hezbollah strongholds.
[115] In an opinion column in the International Herald Tribune online, Peter Bouckaert, Senior Emergencies Researcher for Human Rights Watch, went even further in denouncing the Israeli policy, writing that "In Lebanon ... [t]ime after time, Israel has hit civilian homes and cars in the southern border zone, killing dozens of people with no evidence of any military objective.
[120] Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer made the allegation that these attacks were staged one month later, but was rebuked by the Red Cross for relying on an unverified internet blog in making his accusation.
[122] It was reported on 26 July that "at least 10 Lebanese ambulances bearing the emblem of the international red cross have [...] become targets in Israeli air strikes",[24] resulting in the injury of six emergency workers.
"[141] Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using cluster munitions in an attack on Bilda, a Lebanese village, on 19 July[142] which killed 1 civilian and injured 12, including seven children.
'"[143] Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mark Regev added, "[I]f NATO countries stock these weapons and have used them in recent conflicts – in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq – the world has no reason to point a finger at Israel.
On 20 November 2006, the IDF Spokesman's Office said "the use of cluster munitions against built-up areas was done only against military targets where rocket launches against Israel were identified and after taking steps to warn the civilian population.
On 5 September, Israel's Ministry on Foreign Affairs reported: "Immediately after the cease-fire the IDF gave UNIFIL maps indicating the likely locations of unexploded ordnance, to aid the international attempt to clear these areas and avoid injury to the population.
"[145]Unexploded cluster bombs dropped by Israeli warplanes or duds fired by artillery remain in much of South Lebanon, and have killed 12 people and wounded 39, according to Chris Clarke, head of the U.N.
Mine Action Co-ordination Centre in Tyre claims cluster bombs were dropped by Israel in 267 separate locations in South Lebanon and are still killing returning refugees.
[149] An October 2006 report by Landmine Action, "Foreseeable Harm", found that:[150] "Two months after the ceasefire of 14 August 2006, the contamination caused by cluster munitions was still exacting a daily toll in south Lebanon.
Water and power supplies have been blocked and schools, roads, houses and gardens were still littered with unexploded submunitions when the field research for this report was undertaken one month after the ceasefire.
"[160] Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN senior medical correspondent, said: "They have used [white phosphorus] for all sorts of different things including tracers for weapons, which is why I think it's allowed under a lot of international law.
"On 22 October, Israeli minister Jacob Edery said that the IDF had employed phosphorus munitions within the confines of international law, and stated that it was used in attacks against military targets in open ground.
UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour expressed "grave concern over the continued killing and maiming of civilians in Lebanon, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territory."
Yet the G8 leaders have failed conspicuously to uphold their moral and legal obligation to address such blatant breaches of international humanitarian law, which in some cases have amounted to war crimes".
[193] US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the war on Lebanon as part of "birth pangs of a new Middle East" and urged Israel to ignore calls for a ceasefire because it would be a "false promise if it simply returns us to the status quo".
The 300-page report includes declassified photographs, documents, video images and prisoner interrogations and was translated by the American Jewish Congress who passed it to The New York Times, which had it published.
"[197] David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey wrote for The Washington Post: "Unfortunately, heavy civilian casualties are the inherent and inevitable result of the type of asymmetric warfare deliberately waged by Hezbollah ....
