Amnesty: Civilian casualties on both sides unacceptable
Delegation members arrive in Nahariya, where they visit hospital directly hit by rocket. Representatives note that fighting does not violate international law, but hurting civilians is forbidden
On Friday, the delegation members visited Carmiel, and in the coming days they are expected to also tour Haifa and other communities in the Galilee.
In the afternoon, the delegation members toured the ophthalmology department at the Nahariay hospital, which was directly hit by a rocket. The place suffered a lot of damage, but due to the fact that the patients were evacuated to a fortified underground area at the onset of the fighting, there were no injuries.
Evaluating damages in Nahariya (Photo: Hagai Aharon)
The delegation members stressed that the Israel Defense Forces soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, must be treated in an appropriate manner and that the Red Cross must be allowed to visit them in order to examine their condition, something which has not been done so far.
"It is important for us to stress that hurting civilians on both sides in unacceptable in our eyes, such as the killing of residents in Nahariya, Safed and Haifa, on the one hand, and in the village of Qana, on the other hand," the delegation members noted.
Regarding the exchanges of fire between Hizbullah and Israel Defense Forces soldiers, this is a war between an army and an armed militia, and we as a civil organization do not view this as a violation of the international law," they added.
The Amnesty members also called for an immediate ceasefire. The delegation members are expected to leave Israel on Wednesday and prepare a detailed report on their visit, which apparently left a harsh impression on them after seeing the sights and hearing the testimonies.
Simultaneously, another Amnesty delegation is visiting Beirut and southern Lebanon this week.
The visitors who came from abroad to closely examine the damages were joined by Ambassador Ramiro Cibrian-Uzal, head of the European Union Commission to Israel, who visited Carmiel and Nahariya on Saturday.
Talking to residents in a Carmiel bomb shelter, the ambassador said: "I wanted to be with you in order to express the solidarity of the European Union in light of the suffering of civilians here."
Roee Nahmias contributed to the report
