Amnesty: IDF committed war crimes
Report issued by international human rights group accuses Israel of violating international law during second Lebanon war. Israeli forces carried out 'indiscriminate' and 'disproportionate' attacks on civilians within southern Lebanon, report alleges, referring also to use of cluster bombs during campaign
The current report, which accuses of violating international law in some incidents and even of committing war crimes, focuses on and criticizes the Israel Defense Forces attacks in which civilians were killed and the affect of those strikes on Lebanese civilians.
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- First Amnesty report following war
- Second Amnesty report following war
“A full, impartial UN-led inquiry that includes provision for reparations to the victims is urgently needed,” said Malcolm Smart, director of the group’s Middle East and North Africa program.
“Anything less would not only be a gross betrayal of the civilian victims, more than one thousand of whom were killed, but also a recipe for further civilian bloodshed with impunity.”
Amnesty singled out Israel’s use of cluster bombs during the campaign — bombs which contain dozens of smaller explosive devices that spread over a wide area, thousands of which were dropped on south Lebanon during the conflict and failed to explode, “leaving a lethal legacy that continues to blight civilian lives”.
The first Amnesty report following the war, issued on August 23, dealt with IDF strikes on civilian infrastructures and ruled that Israel deliberately hit civilian targets in order to pressure the civil population.
The second report, which was published on September 14, dealt with Hizbullah's rocket attacks on northern Israeli communities and ruled that these attacks "amounted to deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, as well as indiscriminate attacks, both war crimes under international law."
AFP contributed to the report
