View source for War crimes in the 2006 Lebanon War

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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
During the [[2006 Lebanon War]], [[Amnesty International]], [[Human Rights Watch]], and [[United Nations]] officials accused both [[Hezbollah]] and [[Israel]] of violating [[international humanitarian law]].<ref name="BBC 2006-07-20">{{cite news|title=UN warning on Mid-East war crimes|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5197544.stm|publisher=[[BBC News Online]]|date=20 July 2006}}</ref> These have included allegations of intentional attacks on [[Civilian|civilian populations]] or [[infrastructure]], [[Proportionality (law)#International law|disproportionate]] or indiscriminate attacks, the use of [[human shield]]s, and the use of prohibited weapons.
Under international humanitarian law, warring parties are obliged to [[Distinction (law)|distinguish between combatants and civilians]], ensure that attacks on [[legitimate military target]]s are [[Proportionality (law)|proportional]], and guarantee that the military advantage of such attacks [[Military necessity|outweigh the possible harm done to civilians]].<ref name="hezb_cluster">Human Rights Watch (19 October 2006). [https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/18/lebano14412.htm "Lebanon/Israel: Hezbollah Hit Israel with Cluster Munitions During Conflict"]. Retrieved 11 March 2007.</ref> Violations of these laws are considered war crimes.
According to various media reports, between 1,000 and 1,200 Lebanese citizens were reported dead; there were between 1,500 and 2,500 people wounded and over 1,000,000 were temporarily displaced. Over 150 Israelis were killed; around 700 wounded; and 300,000–500,000 were displaced.<ref name="mfa_casualties">Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (12 July 2006). [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+from+Lebanon-+Hizbullah/Hizbullah+attack+in+northern+Israel+and+Israels+response+12-Jul-2006.htm "Hizbullah attacks northern Israel and Israel's response"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060715204623/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+from+Lebanon-+Hizbullah/Hizbullah+attack+in+northern+Israel+and+Israels+response+12-Jul-2006.htm |date=15 July 2006 }}. Retrieved 5 March 2007.</ref><ref name = "BBC: Middle East crisis: Facts and Figures">{{cite news
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5257128.stm
| title = Middle East crisis: Facts and Figures
|work=BBC News
| date = 31 August 2006
| access-date =11 December 2012| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080719103553/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5257128.stm| archive-date=19 July 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="USA Today: Israel says it will relinquish positions to Lebanese army">{{cite news
| url = https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-08-14-mideast_x.htm
| title = Israel says it will relinquish positions to Lebanese army
| work = USA Today
| date = 15 August 2006}}</ref>
Hezbollah was accused by Israel of deliberately targeting cities and civilian centers in Israel with deadly fire, with its rocket batteries concentrating attacks on Israeli cities along the border, most of which had no direct affiliation with any military activity. In return, Hezbollah claimed its rockets may have hit Israeli civilians areas largely due to weapon inaccuracy, while mostly aiming to hit military and strategic industrial zones. Israel said that it tried to avoid civilians, and had distributed leaflets calling on civilian residents to evacuate,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/13/mideast/index.html|title=Israeli warplanes hit Beirut suburb|first1=Barbara |last1=Starr |first2=John |last2=Vause |first3=Anthony|last3=Mills|publisher=CNN|date=14 July 2006|access-date=30 April 2007}}</ref> but claimed that Hezbollah stored weapons in and fired from civilian areas and transferred weapons using ambulances, making those areas legitimate targets,<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/05/world/middleeast/05mideast.html?ex=1322974800&en=b8b25a9e380122ff&ei=5088partner=rssnyt&emc=rss|first=Greg|last=Myre|title=Offering Video, Israel Answers Critics on War|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=5 December 2006}}</ref> and used civilians as human shields.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2295625,00.html|date=2 June 2006|work=[[The Times]]|title=Might in the air will not defeat guerillas in this bitter conflict | location=London | first=Charles | last=Heyman | access-date=29 March 2010}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=ae679beb-d2be-40a4-8e74-8e581c1bf1ca&k=16670
|title=Hezbollah's deadly hold on heartland: Loved by many, accused by others of sacrificing civilians
|access-date=13 July 2008
|last=Verma
|first=Sonia
|date=5 August 2006
|publisher=[[CanWest Global Communications|CanWest Interactive]]
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319085947/http://www2.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=ae679beb-d2be-40a4-8e74-8e581c1bf1ca&k=16670
|archive-date=19 March 2015
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/116953|title=Declassified IDF Photos and Footage Expose Hizbullah Tactics|first=Ezra|last=HaLevi|publisher=[[Arutz Sheva]]|date=6 December 2006|access-date=13 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Ynetnews">{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278026,00.html|title=IDF: Hizbullah preventing civilians from leaving villages in southern Lebanon|publisher=[[Ynetnews]]|date=18 July 2006}}</ref><ref name="cbsnews.com">{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-cables-iran-armed-hezbollah-via-ambulances/ | work=CBS News | title=U.S. Cables: Iran Armed Hezbollah Via Ambulances | date=29 November 2010| url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328015408/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/29/world/main7099393.shtml | archive-date=28 March 2012 }}</ref>
== Use of human shields ==
Israeli officials accused Hezbollah of intentionally using the civilian population as [[human shield]]s, and several reports have said that Hezbollah fired rockets from residential areas to draw Israeli fire on those areas, which maximised civilian casualties.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2295625,00.html|date=2 June 2006|work=[[The Times]]|title=Might in the air will not defeat guerillas in this bitter conflict | location=London | first=Charles | last=Heyman}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=ae679beb-d2be-40a4-8e74-8e581c1bf1ca&k=16670
|title=Hezbollah's deadly hold on heartland: Loved by many, accused by others of sacrificing civilians
|access-date=7 August 2006
|last=Verma
|first=Sonia
|date=5 August 2006
|publisher=[[CanWest Global Communications|CanWest Interactive]]
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319085947/http://www2.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=ae679beb-d2be-40a4-8e74-8e581c1bf1ca&k=16670
|archive-date=19 March 2015
}}</ref> The IDF released pictures and videos it said demonstrated Hezbollah's use of mosques and homes for rocket storage and launching.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/116953|title=Declassified IDF Photos and Footage Expose Hizbullah Tactics|first=Ezra|last=HaLevi|publisher=[[Arutz Sheva]]|date=6 December 2006|access-date=19 April 2007}}</ref> The [[Israeli Defense Forces|IDF]] claimed that Hezbollah had set up roadblocks to prevent residents from leaving the warzone,<ref name="Ynetnews"/> while Amnesty International reported that "around 100,000 civilians were trapped in southern Lebanon, afraid to flee following Israeli threats to target all moving vehicles", and after statements by Israeli Justice Minister [[Haim Ramon]] that "all those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah."<ref name="AI_dmg">{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde18/007/2006/en/ |title=Deliberate destruction or "collateral damage"? Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure |date=23 August 2006 |publisher=Amnesty International }}</ref>
In U.S. documents leaked online, it was alleged that Hezbollah used legitimate medical aid supply as cover to transfer weapons during the war.<ref name="cbsnews.com"/>
Amnesty International investigated Israeli complaints of the use of human shields by Hezbollah, but found no evidence for the claims. They concluded that "it [was] not apparent that civilians were present and used as 'human shields'."<ref>Amnesty International (21 November 2006). [http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGMDE020352006 "Israel/Lebanon: Further evidence of grave violations in Israel-Hizbullah conflict underlines urgent need for UN inquiry"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113225600/http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGMDE020352006 |date=13 November 2007 }}. Retrieved 4 May 2007.</ref> 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."
<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://hrw.org/reports/2006/lebanon0806/2.htm
| title = Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon
|date=August 2006
| publisher = [Human Rights Watch]}}</ref>
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."<ref name = "Q&A">[http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/17/lebano13748.htm Questions and Answers on Hostilities Between Israel and Hezbollah] 31 July 2006, Updated 2 August 2006</ref> 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. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1153291989232|title=UN humanitarian chief blasts Hizbullah|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]]|date=24 July 2006}}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
A 6 September 2007 Human Rights Watch report asserted that most of the civilian deaths in Lebanon resulted from "indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes" and that Israeli aircraft targeted vehicles carrying fleeing civilians.<ref name="sept6">Associated Press (6 September 2007). [http://www.wset.com/news/stories/0907/453157.html "Israel Blamed for Lebanese Civilian Deaths"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927212049/http://www.wset.com/news/stories/0907/453157.html |date=27 September 2007 }}. Retrieved 6 September 2007.</ref> The report stated that the investigation "refutes the argument made by Israeli officials that most of the Lebanese civilian casualties were due to Hezbollah routinely hiding among civilians."<ref name="sept6" /> In a statement issued before the report's release, the human rights organization said there was no basis to the Israeli government's claim that civilian casualties resulted from Hezbollah guerrillas using civilians as shields. Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch executive director, said there were only "rare" cases of Hezbollah operating in civilian villages. "To the contrary, once the war started, most Hezbollah military officials and even many political officials left the villages," he said. "Most Hezbollah military activity was conducted from prepared positions outside Lebanese villages in the hills and valleys around."<ref name=autogenerated4>The Independent (7 September 2007). [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2938967.ece "Hezbollah 'did not use civilians as cover'"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112050528/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2938967.ece |date=12 January 2008 }}. Retrieved 7 September 2007.</ref>
A US Army War College study concluded that Hezbollah made extensive use of civilian homes as direct fire combat positions, however, the villages Hezbollah used to anchor its defensive system in southern Lebanon were largely evacuated by the time Israeli ground forces crossed the border on 18 July. 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. Nor is there any systematic reporting of Hezbollah using civilians in the combat zone as shields.<ref>Biddle, Stephen, and Jeffrey A. Friedman. THE 2006 LEBANON CAMPAIGN AND THE FUTURE OF WARFARE: IMPLICATIONS FOR ARMY AND DEFENSE POLICY. Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, 2008, p.43-44</ref>
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. I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."<ref name = "Chulov" /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153291989232&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |title=UN humanitarian chief blasts Hizbullah |access-date=7 August 2006 |agency=Associated Press |date=25 July 2006 |newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]] }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ap/2006/07/24/ap2900705.html |title=U.N. Exec Blames Hezbollah for Deaths |access-date=7 August 2006 |last=Frayer |first=Lauren |date=24 July 2006 |work=[[Forbes]] }}{{dead link|date=January 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
</ref> A [[Human Rights Watch]] report released on 3 August said: <blockquote>"Human Rights Watch found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack. In none of the cases of civilian deaths documented in this report is there evidence to suggest that Hezbollah forces or weapons were in or near the area that the IDF targeted during or just prior to the attack."<ref>{{cite news|title=Israel/Lebanon: End Indiscriminate Strikes on Civilians|url=https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/02/lebano13902.htm|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|date=3 August 2006}}</ref></blockquote> In the same report, Human Rights Watch wrote: <blockquote>"Hezbollah occasionally did store weapons in or near civilian homes and fighters placed rocket launchers within populated areas or near U.N. observers, which are serious violations of the laws of war because they violate the duty to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. ... In addition, Human Rights Watch continues to investigate allegations that Hezbollah is shielding its military personnel and materiel by locating them in civilian homes or areas, and it is deeply concerned by Hezbollah's placement of certain troops and materiel near civilians, which endangers them and violates the duty to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. Human Rights Watch uses the occasion of this report to reiterate Hezbollah’s legal duty never to deliberately use civilians to shield military objects and never to needlessly endanger civilians by conducting military operations, maintaining troops, or storing weapons in their vicinity."<ref name="Fatal">[http://hrw.org/reports/2006/lebanon0806/2.htm "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon: Summary"]. [[Human Rights Watch]]. August 2006. 10 December 2006.</ref></blockquote>
Human Rights Watch later printed an [[editorial]] reiterating these concerns in the context of strong criticism of the conduct of both sides in the conflict on 5 October.<ref name="Whitson">Whitson, SarahLeah. [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/05/lebano14336.htm "Hezbollah Needs to Answer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081111041114/http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/05/lebano14336.htm |date=11 November 2008 }}. [[Human Rights Watch]]. 5 October 2006. 9 December 2006.</ref>
An [[Amnesty International]] report released on 21 November 2006, found that there wasn't "conclusive evidence" of the use of "human shields": <blockquote>"While the presence of Hizbullah’s fighters and short-range weapons within civilian areas is not contested, this in itself is not conclusive evidence of intent to use civilians as "human shields", any more than the presence of Israeli soldiers in a kibbutz is in itself evidence of the same war crime."<ref name="AINov21">Amnesty International (21 November 2006). [http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGMDE020332006 "Israel/Lebanon: Out of all proportion - civilians bear the brunt of the war"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061201071118/http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGMDE020332006 |date=1 December 2006 }}. Retrieved 9 December 2006.</ref></blockquote>
There have been other reports of Hezbollah using civilians as [[human shields]]. On 12 July, the very same day that Hezbollah sparked the war by kidnapping the two Israeli soldiers, the Israeli government publicized photographic and video evidence of Hezbollah's human shield tactics.<ref name="MFAHizbullah">[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2006/Operation+Change+of+Direction+Video+Clips.htm "Hizbullah's exploitation of Lebanese population centers and civilians: Photographic evidence"]. ''The Israeli Government's Official Website, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs''. 12 July 2006. 9 December 2006</ref><ref>Myre, Greg. [http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/05/news/israel.php "Israel offers evidence of Hezbollah abuses during war"]. ''[[International Herald Tribune]]''. 5 December 2006. 10 December 2006.</ref> The Sunday [[Herald Sun]] printed pictures that were smuggled out of Lebanon. One showing militants in a Lebanese town riding a truck equipped with an anti-aircraft gun, another showing a militant carrying an AK-47 rifle.<ref name="HerSunPic">{{cite news
|first=Chris
|last=Link
|url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,19955774-5007220,00.html
|title=Photos that damn Hezbollah
|publisher=[[Herald Sun]]
|date=30 July 2006
|access-date=7 August 2006
|quote=THIS is the picture that damns Hezbollah. It is one of several, smuggled from behind Lebanon's battle lines, showing that Hezbollah is waging war amid suburbia. The images, obtained exclusively by the Sunday Herald Sun. Dressed in civilian clothing so they can quickly disappear, the militants carrying automatic assault rifles and ride in on trucks mounted with cannon. The photographs, from the Christian area of Wadi Chahrour in the east of Beirut, were taken by a visiting journalist and smuggled out by a friend.
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705202759/http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0%2C%2C19955774-5007220%2C00.html
|archive-date=5 July 2009
}}</ref> The photographer, a Melbourne man who refused to give his name, stated that he was less than 400 meters from the block when it was obliterated. He said that "Hezbollah came in to launch their rockets, then within minutes the area was blasted by Israeli jets ... Until the Hezbollah fighters arrived, it had not been touched by the Israelis. Then it was totally devastated. It was carnage. Two innocent people died in that incident, but it was so lucky it was not more."<ref name = "HerSunPic" /> [[The New Yorker]] reported how a [[Sidon]] mosque was used as a Hezbollah weapons cache before it was bombed by Israel.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/08/07/060807fa_fac|title=Letter from Beirut: The Battle for Lebanon|author=Jon Lee Anderson|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=7 August 2006|access-date=27 April 2007|quote=We turned north, to a hospital in Sidon. Near the hospital, a mosque lay in ruins. A man approached and told me that he was a teacher at the Hariri school. I asked him why he thought the Israelis had hit a mosque, and he said, simply, "It was a Hezbollah mosque." A younger man came up to me and, when we were out of earshot of others, said that Hezbollah had kept bombs in the basement of the mosque, but that two days earlier a truck had taken the cache away. It was common knowledge in Sidon, he said, and everyone was expecting the mosque to be hit. When, the previous evening, displaced people from the south had gathered on the grounds, they had been warned away.}}</ref>
On 5 December 2006, the IDF declassified photographic and video recorded evidence of Hezbollah's human shield tactics.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Myre|first1=Greg|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/15/world/middleeast/15voices.html?_r=1&oref=slogin|title=2 More Israelis Are Killed as Rain of Rockets From Lebanon Pushes Thousands South|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=15 July 2006|access-date=25 October 2008}}</ref> [[Ynetnews]] reported: <blockquote>"The IDF [had] found that Hizbullah is preventing civilians from leaving villages in southern Lebanon. Roadblocks have been set up outside some of the villages to prevent residents from leaving, while in other villages Hizbullah is preventing UN representatives from entering, who are trying to help residents leave."<ref>Greenberg, Hasan. [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278026,00.html "IDF: Hizbullah preventing civilians from leaving villages in southern Lebanon"]. ''Israel News: [[Ynetnews]]''. 18 July 2006. 9 December 2006.</ref></blockquote>
Israeli military spokesman, Capt. Jacob Dallal, further noted that much of the weaponry threatening Israel was deliberately being stored among civilians: "A lot of the rockets are stored in people's homes in urban areas, fired from within villages and brought in from the Damascus-Beirut highway."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2214662&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 |title=Military Analysts Question Israeli Bombing |access-date=6 August 2006 |last=Krane |first=Jim |date=20 July 2006 |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609232219/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2214662&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 |archive-date=9 June 2008 |url-status=dead }}
</ref> The [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] also claims that Hezbollah militants are preventing or impeding the evacuation of civilians from southern Lebanon despite warnings by Israel to do so, thereby keeping civilians inside the military theatre and exposing them to danger.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278026,00.html
| title = IDF: Hizbullah preventing civilians from leaving villages in southern Lebanon
| access-date = 7 August 2006
| last = Greenberg
| first = Hanan
| newspaper = Ynetnews
| date = 18 July 2006
| publisher = [[Ynetnews|Yedioth Internet]]
}}
</ref>
During a raid in [[Baalbeck]], Israeli forces found what IDF commanders described to the media as "a hospital building that served as a [[Hezbollah]] office complex."<ref>Ellingwood, Ken and Laura King. "Hezbollah Steps Up Barrage." ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. 3 August 2006. Home ed.: Part A; Pg 1. 30 August 2006 LexisNexis Academic.</ref> Israeli soldiers gathered weapons, documents, and other useful intelligence information from the hospital. According to [[Al Arabia]]'s [https://web.archive.org/web/20170729014029/http://www.alarabiya.net/Articles/2006/08/03/26297.htm website], Hezbollah fighters wear uniforms in battle but "dress normally" when among civilians. Hence, fallen Hezbollah fighters in civilian areas are likely to be accounted as civilians casualties.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.alarabiya.net/Articles/2006/08/03/26297.htm |title=أخبار سياسية {{!}} لقطات من عالم حزب الله السري عبر شهادات مقاتليه في ساحة المعركة<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=17 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729014029/http://www.alarabiya.net/Articles/2006/08/03/26297.htm |archive-date=29 July 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
An editorial in ''[[The Washington Times]]'' detailed preparations taken by Hezbollah in advance of the July war to hide weaponry in private civilian homes.<ref name=autogenerated2 />
==Attacks on civilian targets==
[[Image:Destroyed balustrade in bombed Beirut house July 20 2006.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Aftermath of an attack on residential area, [[Beirut]].]]
[[Artillery]] and [[missile]]s fired into [[civilian]] areas in [[Lebanon]] and [[Israel]] by both the [[Israel Defense Forces]] and [[Hezbollah]] were a major component of the [[2006 Lebanon war]]. The [[Zar'it-Shtula incident|Hezbollah attack that initiated the conflict]] involved the firing of rockets on the Israeli towns of [[Even Menachem]] and [[Mattat]], injuring 5 civilians.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hezbollah kills 8 soldiers, kidnaps two in offensive on northern border| date=14 July 2006| publisher=[[Haaretz]]| url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/737825.html}}</ref> Four civilians were killed over the next two days.<ref>Phillips, Kyra, et al. "Hezbollah Leader: Ready for 'Open War' With Israel; People Flooding From Egypt into Gaza Through Border Hole; California Wildfires Blazing; Difficulties in Efforts to Evacuate Americans from Lebanon; Adib Farha Interview." Show: "Live From ... 1:59 PM EST." 14 July 2006. News; International. 18 August 2006. LexisNexis Academic.</ref>
Intended targeting aside, approximately one-quarter of the [[Israelis]] killed by Hezbollah and the vast majority of the [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]] killed by Israeli forces were widely reported to be civilians.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+from+Lebanon-+Hizbullah/Israel-Hizbullah+conflict-+Victims+of+rocket+attacks+and+IDF+casualties+July-Aug+2006.htm |title=Israel-Hizbullah conflict: Victims of rocket attacks and IDF casualties |publisher=Israel, Ministry of Foreign Affairs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624211414/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-%2BObstacle%2Bto%2BPeace/Terrorism%2Bfrom%2BLebanon-%2BHizbullah/Israel-Hizbullah%2Bconflict-%2BVictims%2Bof%2Brocket%2Battacks%2Band%2BIDF%2Bcasualties%2BJuly-Aug%2B2006.htm |archive-date=24 June 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/July_War06.asp|title=Timeline of the July War 2006|publisher=The Daily Star, Lebanon|access-date=17 July 2010|archive-date=10 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101210085022/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/July_War06.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3290695,00.html|title=Hezbollah's casualties|publisher=Ynet}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=2&x_article=1195|title=Questioning the number of civilian casualties in Lebanon|publisher=Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America}}</ref> Israel, Lebanon, and the [[international community]] have all expressed grave concern over the damage to civilian life and property that has resulted from the current conflict. Israel mostly blames Hezbollah, although expressing regret for [[collateral damage]] to civilians caused by return fire on Hezbollah positions.<ref>[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/The+Second+Lebanon+War+-+One+year+later+-+July+2007.htm#civiliancasualties "The Second Lebanon War: One Year Later (July 2007)"]. ''[[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]]''. 12 July 2007. 25 March 2009.</ref> Hezbollah blames Israel entirely, downplaying strikes which have killed Israeli civilians as exaggerated or justifiable.<ref name="freerepublic">{{cite news | url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=74020 | title=Hizbullah leader promises enemy 'more surprises'}}</ref> Allies of each have expressed similar views.
===Targeting of civilians by Hezbollah===
[[File:Haifa car damaged by shrapnel July 17 2006.jpg|thumb|A car in Haifa, Israel damaged by anti-personnel [[ball bearing]]s from a rocket attack during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict]]
[[Image:2006crisis lebanon israel.png|left|thumb|250px|Map showing some of the Israeli localities attacked by rockets fired from Lebanese soil as of 7 August 2006.]]
Hezbollah fired rockets, sometimes at a rate of more than 150 per day,<ref name="HTN">{{cite news |title=Hizbullah attacks northern Israel and Israel's response |date=12 July 2006 |publisher=[[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs|MFA]] |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+from+Lebanon-+Hizbullah/Hizbullah+attack+in+northern+Israel+and+Israels+response+12-Jul-2006.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060715204623/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+from+Lebanon-+Hizbullah/Hizbullah+attack+in+northern+Israel+and+Israels+response+12-Jul-2006.htm |archive-date=15 July 2006}}</ref><ref name="KraftIHT">{{cite web
| url = http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/31/news/displace.php
| title = Israelis rally to aid displaced
| access-date = 9 August 2006
| last = Kraft
| first = Dina
| date = 31 July 2006
| publisher = International Herald Tribune
| page = 4
}}
</ref> at civilian targets throughout the conflict.<ref name="HTN"/> Every major city in northern Israel was hit, including [[Haifa]], [[Nazareth]], [[Tiberias]], [[Nahariya]], [[Safed]], [[Afula]],<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2006/07/19/world/middleeast/20060719_MIDEAST_GRAPHIC.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1153331904-rs3WIKv7XWZoOl6M03+JNA Major Attacks in Lebanon, Israel and the Gaza Strip], ''[[The New York Times]]''</ref> [[Qiryat Shemona|Kiryat Shmona]], [[Karmiel]], and [[Maalot|Ma'a lot]], along with dozens of [[kibbutz]]im, [[moshav]]im, and [[Arab citizens of Israel#Druze|Druze]] and [[Arab citizens of Israel|Arab]] villages.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3275609,00.html
|title=Woman, grandson killed in Meron rocket attack
|access-date=13 August 2006
|last1=Greenberg
|first1=Hannan
|first2=Neta
|last2=Sela
|first3=Aviram
|last3=Zino
|first4=Ahiya
|last4=Raved
|date=14 July 2006
|publisher=[[Ynetnews]]
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725161517/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0%2C7340%2CL-3275609%2C00.html
|archive-date=25 July 2008
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Anxious northern Israel endures rocket fire |date=14 July 2006 |publisher=CNN |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/14/israel.anxiety.ap/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060719150003/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/14/israel.anxiety.ap/index.html |archive-date=19 July 2006 }}</ref><ref name=ynet4>{{cite news|title=Katyusha rockets hit Galilee|date=13 July 2006|publisher=[[Ynetnews]]|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3275440,00.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Northern Israel under attack; missile fired at Haifa|date=14 July 2006|publisher=[[Ynetnews]]|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3275229,00.html}}</ref> Hezbollah rocket attacks were responsible for all 43 civilian Israeli fatalities in the conflict, including four heart attacks during rocket attacks, in addition to at least 12 military fatalities.<ref>{{cite news|title=Israel-Hizbullah conflict: Victims of rocket attacks and IDF casualties |date=12 July 2006 |publisher=[[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs|MFA]] |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+from+Lebanon-+Hizbullah/Israel-Hizbullah+conflict-+Victims+of+rocket+attacks+and+IDF+casualties+July-Aug+2006.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624211414/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-%2BObstacle%2Bto%2BPeace/Terrorism%2Bfrom%2BLebanon-%2BHizbullah/Israel-Hizbullah%2Bconflict-%2BVictims%2Bof%2Brocket%2Battacks%2Band%2BIDF%2Bcasualties%2BJuly-Aug%2B2006.htm |archive-date=24 June 2009 }}</ref> Because of the bombings by Hezbollah of Israel's northern cities, there was a large [[Displaced person|displaced]] Israeli citizen population within Israel. "Israeli officials have estimated the number of displaced northern Israelis at 300,000 since the fighting began" on 12 July.<ref name="KraftIHT" /> Many of the displaced Israelis stayed in Israel's southernmost city, [[Eilat]], where hotels were overbooked. Some were constrained to camp out on the beach instead. Other families stayed in university dormitories in larger cities such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem or in guests houses in kibbutzim south of Haifa.<ref name="KraftIHT" />
Hezbollah also used cluster weapons which can indiscriminately kill civilians. This was the first use of a Chinese made cluster bomb weapon.<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101901825.html |title=Cluster Bombs used by Hezbollah |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=20 October 2006 | first=Nora | last=Boustany | access-date=24 May 2010}}
</ref>
Some Hezbollah statements suggest intentions of deliberately targeting civilians. On 24 July [[Hossein Safiadeen]], Hezbollah envoy to Iran, told a conference that included the Tehran-based representative of the Palestinian group [[Hamas]] and the [[ambassador]]s from [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]] and the [[Palestinian Authority]] "We are going to make Israel not safe for Israelis". He further outlined his organization's strategy of [[terrorism|terrorizing]] Israeli civilians into leaving their country: "We will expand attacks," he said: "The people who came to Israel, (they) moved there to live, not to die. If we continue to attack, they will leave."<ref name="Safiadeen">{{cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/24/ap/world/mainD8J2C23G6.shtml |title=Hezbollah envoy: War on Israel to widen |agency=Associated Press |first=Brian |last=Murphy |date=24 July 2006 |work=CBS News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080718233811/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/24/ap/world/mainD8J2C23G6.shtml |archive-date=18 July 2008 }}</ref>
===Hezbollah's attacks on civilian areas===
Rockets fired by Hezbollah also landed and resulted in casualties in the [[Arab citizens of Israel|Israeli Arab]] population. [[Hassan Nasrallah|Nasrallah]] has apologized for the first two Arab [[Deaths|fatalities]], two brothers aged 3 and 5 in the mixed city of [[Nazareth]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Rocket kills two boys in Nazareth|date=19 July 2006|agency=Associated Press|url=http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=76d9d631-7adb-4e8a-baf4-fd788bba6eeb|access-date=17 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610064403/http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=76d9d631-7adb-4e8a-baf4-fd788bba6eeb|archive-date=10 June 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=21 July 2006|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/20/nasrallah.interview/index.html|title=Hezbollah leader apologizes for attack's child victims}}</ref>
[[Human Rights Watch]] stated on 18 July that <blockquote>"''Hezbollah's attacks [on Haifa] were at best indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, at worst the deliberate targeting of civilians. Either way, they were serious violations of international humanitarian law.''"<ref>[http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/18/lebano13760.htm "Lebanon: Hezbollah Rocket Attacks on Haifa Designed to Kill Civilians"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080711023201/http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/18/lebano13760.htm |date=11 July 2008 }} [[Human Rights Watch]]. 18 July 2006. 18 August 2006.</ref></blockquote> Human Rights Watch has also noted that <blockquote>"''Hezbollah has launched rockets containing thousands of metal ball bearings towards Israeli towns and cities. Human Rights Watch is of the view that neither weapon should be used in or near civilian areas as a matter of international law, because the wide blast effects of these weapons cannot be directed at military targets without imposing a substantial risk of civilian harm and the weapons cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians. (...) Like cluster munitions, the use of rocket heads filled with metal ball bearings cannot be targeted precisely and are indiscriminate weapons when used in populated areas. Their use in rockets fired into populated areas appears intended to maximize harm to civilians.''"<ref name="autogenerated2006">{{cite news|url=https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/17/lebano13748.htm | title=Questions and Answers on Hostilities Between Israel and Hezbollah | date=28 July 2006 | publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref></blockquote>
Civilian infrastructure damaged by rocket attacks included a post office{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} and two Israeli hospitals, according to the director general of the Israeli Ministry of Health, professor Avi Israeli.<ref name = "Gupta2">{{cite news|title=House Call With Dr. Sanjay Gupta|publisher=CNN|date=23 July 2006|url= http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0607/23/hcsg.01.html}}</ref> Rockets have also hit many civilian homes, and a cemetery, an event in which 10 Israelis were killed.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/06/mideast.main/index.html Hezbollah rockets pound northern Israel] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071205074802/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/06/mideast.main/index.html |date=5 December 2007 }}, ''[[CNN]]'', 6 August 2006</ref> In [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], a Hezbollah rocket destroyed "the only school in the city that serves both Jewish and Arab pupils -- the el-Mahaba ("love" in Arabic) kindergarten for mentally and emotionally handicapped kids."<ref>Derfner, Larry.  [http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=16529 "Direct Hezbollah rocket hit leaves Israeli/Arab 'peace school' in pieces"]. ''The Jewish Journal''.  22 September 2006.  24 September 2006.</ref>
As for the [[Arab citizens of Israel]] in [[Haifa]], [[Hassan Nasrallah|Nasrallah]] said on [[Al-Manar]] television, "I have a special message to the Arabs of Haifa, to your martyrs and to your wounded.  I call you to leave this city.  I hope you do this.... Please leave so we don't shed your blood, which is our blood".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2292540&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 |title=Nasrallah Urges Arabs to Leave Haifa |access-date=29 January 2007 |last=Panossian |first=Joseph |date=9 August 2006 |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313171623/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2292540&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 |archive-date=13 March 2007 |quote=Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday warned all Israeli Arabs to leave the port city of Haifa so the militant group could step up attacks without fear of shedding the blood of fellow Muslims. Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, has been the frequent target of Hezbollah's rocket attacks. "I have a special message to the Arabs of Haifa, to your martyrs and to your wounded. I call on you to leave this city. I hope you do this.... Please leave so we don't shed your blood, which is our blood," Nasrallah said. |url-status=dead }}
</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3289009,00.html
| title = Haifa's Arabs: We won't leave city
| access-date = 29 January 2007
| last = Raved
| first = Ahiya
| date = 10 August 2006
| newspaper = [[Ynetnews]]
| quote = Former Knesset Member and Haifa resident Issam Mahoul on Wednesday categorically rejected Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah's call to Arab residents of Haifa to evacuate the city.
}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10059380.html
|title=A few Palestinians of 1948 areas heed Nasrallah warning and flee
|access-date=29 January 2007
|date=12 August 2006
|publisher=Gulfnews.com
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060814095348/http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10059380.html
|archive-date=14 August 2006
|url-status=dead
|quote=Osama Abu Naj wasn't taking chances after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah urged Arab residents of Haifa to flee to safer ground, threatening more rocket barrages on the city. "Nasrallah always does what he says," the 32-year-old explained, while waiting for his wife to finish packing.
}}
</ref> Some analysts have drawn a comparison between these warnings and the alleged [[1948 Palestinian exodus|Arab leaders' endorsement for flight in 1948]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.pmw.org.il/bulletins_Aug2006.htm
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831222210/http://www.pmw.org.il/bulletins_Aug2006.htm
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=31 August 2006
|title=Nasrallah Superman: An analysis of the war in Lebanon from the Palestinian perspective
|access-date=29 January 2007
|date=August 2006
|last1=Marcus
|first1=Itamar
|author-link=Itamar Marcus
|first2=Barbara
|last2=Crook
|publisher=[[Palestinian Media Watch]]
|quote=Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's request of Arabs to leave Haifa to facilitate the bombing and killing of Jews in Haifa is the identical call heard by the Arabs of Haifa and other cities by the Arab League attacking the new State of Israel in 1948.
}}
</ref>
===Targeting of civilian targets by Israel===
Strikes on Lebanon's civilian [[infrastructure]] include [[Rafik Hariri International Airport]], ports, a lighthouse, grain silos,<ref>{{cite news|title=Howard says Lebanon evacuation possible by ferry|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1687633.htm|publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]]|date=16 July 2006|access-date=17 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609183624/http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1687633.htm|archive-date=9 June 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> bridges, roads, factories, ambulances and relief trucks,<ref>{{cite news|title=UAE aid truck bombed by Israel|url=http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/07/18/10053572.html|publisher=[[Gulfnews]]|date=18 July 2006|access-date=17 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610004016/http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/07/18/10053572.html|archive-date=10 June 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> mobile telephone and television stations,<ref>{{cite news|title=Israel hits Lebanon telecoms, plans more incursions|url=http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-07-22T172011Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-260604-3.xml|publisher=Reuters|date=22 July 2006}}{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> fuel containers and service stations,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_ID=1&article_ID=74049&categ_id=2|title=By the numbers: heavy damage to infrastructure|date=18 July 2006|access-date=19 July 2006|publisher=[[FT.com]]}}</ref> and the country's largest dairy farm [[Liban Lait]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Mayhem in middle east: it gets worse|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17415818&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=it-gets-worse--name_page.html|work=[[The Daily Mirror]]|date=20 July 2006}}</ref>
An "initial assessment" [[Amnesty International]] report on Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure states that "the evidence strongly suggests that the extensive destruction of public works, power systems, civilian homes and industry was deliberate and an integral part of the military strategy, rather than "collateral damage" – incidental damage to civilians or civilian property resulting from targeting military objectives."<ref>[https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde18/007/2006/en/ "Israel/Lebanon Deliberate destruction or 'collateral damage'? Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure"] . Act Now-[[Amnesty International]].  23 August 2006.  4 October 2006.</ref> UN [[Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator]] [[Jan Egeland]] called Israel's offensive "disproportionate" and declared that the "horrific" leveling of "block after block" of buildings in Beirut "makes it a violation of humanitarian law."<ref>{{cite news|title=UN appalled by Beirut devastation|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5207478.stm|publisher=BBC|date=23 July 2006}}</ref> Mr Egeland added that one third of the Lebanese dead were children.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5197186.stm Fighting inside Lebanese border] — [[BBC News]], Thursday, 20 July 2006</ref> Around 900,000 Lebanese were displaced during the fighting.<ref>{{cite news|title=article |url=https://www.theguardian.com/worldlatest/story/0,,-6022211,00.html |work=The Guardian |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070128210929/http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0%2C%2C-6022211%2C00.html |archive-date=28 January 2007 }}</ref>
There have been numerous reports of attacks on fleeing civilians. The [[BBC]] reported that families evacuating the village of [[Marwahin]] in [[Southern Lebanon]] were struck on an open road by an Israeli missile attack; killing 17, many of them women and children.<ref>{{cite news|title=Israeli aircraft attack central Beirut for first time in 4-day offensive |url=http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/news/shownews.jsp?content=w071541A |publisher=[[Maclean's]] |date=15 July 2006 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref name = "bodlit">{{cite news
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5184122.stm
| title = Their bodies litter the road
| access-date = 9 August 2006
| date = 15 July 2006
| work = BBC News
}}
</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Israeli Attacks Kill 13 Lebanese Civilians|url=http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004225738|publisher=[[All Headline News]]|date=15 July 2006|access-date=17 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613015612/http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004225738|archive-date=13 June 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Human Rights Watch]] called for an investigation into this incident.<ref>{{cite news|title=Israel: Investigate Attack on Civilians in Lebanon
|url=https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/17/isrlpa13756.htm|publisher=[[Human Rights News]]|date=17 July 2006}}</ref> On 23 July 2006 three families fleeing [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] at the command of the IDF were attacked by rockets fired from Israeli helicopters; they claimed to be prominently waving a [[white flag]] from their automobiles,<ref>{{cite news|title=To Flee or to Stay? Family Chooses Too Late and Pays Dearly|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/world/middleeast/24tyre.html |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=24 July 2006|access-date=11 September 2006 | first=Hassan M. | last=Fattah}}</ref> however the Israelis had repeatedly warned civilians not to use vans due to their ability to carry Hezbollah rockets.<ref>{{cite news|title=Blasted by a missile on the road to safety
|url=https://www.theguardian.com/syria/story/0,,1827422,00.html|publisher=[[Guardian Unlimited]]|date=24 July 2006|access-date=11 September 2006 | location=London | first=Suzanne | last=Goldenberg}}</ref>
An Israeli official stated that <blockquote>"Hezbollah has a huge arsenal and has fired 1,000 missiles at us.  We are acting in self-defense. We are targeting only military objectives, including transport facilities that Hezbollah can use, but you have to remember that Hezbollah often hides in civilian areas. We sent flyers and gave other warnings to civilians to leave before our attacks."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5198342.stm|title=Q&A: Mid-East war crimes?|date=21 July 2006|via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref></blockquote> Vice Premier [[Shimon Peres]] said Israel had no intention to harm Lebanese civilians, but warned that civilians who live near Hezbollah weapon caches were in danger: "Because we know that some of their rocket caches, which are fired at Israel, are hidden in private apartments, I call on these residents to leave their homes.  He who lives near a rocket is likely to get hurt."<ref>{{cite news|title=IPeretz: We'll break Hizbullah|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3275338,00.html|publisher=[[ynetnews.com]]|date=13 July 2006}}</ref> Hezbollah had placed large amounts of weaponry into sealed rooms in private home prior to the outbreak of the conflict, placing the Lebanese citizenry at risk of attack.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/oct/25/20061025-092622-2090r/|title=Deadly Hezbollah chess match|newspaper=The Washington Times}}</ref>
The [[civilian casualties]] have been characterised by some as the result of poor [[intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence]].  In mid-June, the Lebanese Security Service allegedly arrested as many as 80 Lebanese citizens which they accused of working for [[Mossad]].<ref>{{cite web
|publisher=Asia Times
|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HH09Ak04.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820095700/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HH09Ak04.html
|url-status=unfit
|archive-date=20 August 2006
|title=Hezbollah - a clever and determined enemy
|last1=Bennett
|first1=Richard
|first2=David
|last2=McKenzie
|date=9 August 2006
|access-date=14 August 2006}}</ref> The loss of such a significant number of [[asset (intelligence)|assets]] would have allowed Hezbollah time to redeploy to new locations prior to the conflict without Israel's knowledge.
On 30 July 2006, [[Israel]] hit a residential building in [[Qana]] that housed refugees, which Israel said was near Hezbollah rocket launching sites; 28 people died, including 16 children;<ref>{{cite news|title=Israel/Lebanon: Qana Death Toll at 28|date=2 August 2006|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|url=https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/02/lebano13899.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://zeenews.india.com/|title=Zee News: Latest News, Live Breaking News, Today News, India Political News Updates|website=Zee News}}</ref> the death toll initially reported was 57 people including 34 children.<ref>{{cite news|title=abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2253175 |date=30 July 2006 |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2253175 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609232228/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2253175 |archive-date=9 June 2008 }}</ref> The deadly [[2006 Qana airstrike|air strike]], which followed reports of Israeli attacks on two clearly marked Red Cross ambulances in [[Qana]] one week before on 24 July<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite news|title=Paula Zahn Now|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0607/24/pzn.01.html|publisher=CNN|date=24 July 2006}}</ref> and Israel's 1996 [[1996 shelling of Qana|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 criminal]]s."<ref>{{cite news|title=Israeli air attack kills 54 civilians, including 19 children|date=30 July 2006|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/30/mideast.main/index.html}}</ref>
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. Nine Israeli soldiers were killed in the operation.<ref name=ynet_noaer>{{cite news|title=9 IDF troops killed in day of fighting|date=26 July 2006|publisher=[[Ynet]]|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3281856,00.html}}</ref>
====Israel's position====
Israeli officials claim that they try to minimize the civilian casualties by dropping leaflets that warn civilians to leave the area before attacks.<ref>{{cite news|title=IDF warns Lebanese civilians to leave danger zones|publisher=Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs|date=25 July 2006|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+from+Lebanon-+Hizbullah/IDF+warns+Lebanese+civilians+to+leave+danger+zones+3-Aug-2006.htm}}</ref>
On 14 July, IDF Army Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. [[Dan Halutz]] declared that, "nothing is safe [in Lebanon], as simple as that."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080821220728/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2269750,00.html "Our aim is to win – nothing is safe, Israeli chiefs declare"], [[OneWorld US]], 14 July 2006</ref>
On 19 July, during a speech at a pro-Israel rally in [[New York City|New York]], Israel's ambassador to the UN, [[Dan Gillerman]], said: "To those countries who claim that we are using disproportionate force, I have only this to say: You're damn right we are. Because if your cities were shelled the way ours were, if your citizens were terrorized the way ours are, you would use much more force than we are using."<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/18897/New_Yorkers_Rally_For_Israel.html|title = New Yorkers Rally For Israel|date = 19 July 2006|publisher = [[The Jewish Press]]}}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He has also said, "One who goes to sleep with rockets shouldn't be surprised if he doesn't wake up in the morning."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060731-122510-3083r_page2.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130209042111/http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060731-122510-3083r_page2.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 February 2013 |title=Tel Aviv to halt air offensive for 48 hours |date=31 July 2006 |newspaper=[[The Washington Times]] }}</ref>
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]].<ref>[http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/07/more_aid_pledge.php ''More aid pledged to Lebanon as UN calls Hezbollah cowards''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930211809/http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/07/more_aid_pledge.php |date=30 September 2007 }}, ''[[Ya Libnan]]'', 24 July 2006</ref> The same day the IAF/IDF confirmed it had destroyed ten buildings in Beirut, including what it described as "a vital target", but the nature of the target was not revealed.<ref>[http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153291986984&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter ''IAF destroys 10 buildings in Beirut''], ''The Jerusalem Post'', 24 July 2006 {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> In response to the press reports, the [[IDF Spokesperson's Unit|IDF Spokesperson's Office]] first released a statement saying that reporters had misquoted "the senior officer", but later issued a new statement saying that the officer in question had made a mistake and was wrong in claiming that Halutz had issued such a "retaliation" directive.<ref name=autogenerated3>[https://archive.today/20130706010309/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153291987290&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull ''High-ranking officer: Halutz ordered retaliation policy''], ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]'', 24 July 2006.</ref>
On 26 July, during a security cabinet meeting headed by [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]] [[Ehud Olmert]], the [[Israeli Justice Minister]] [[Haim Ramon]] is reported by [[The Daily Telegraph]] to have said that any civilians remaining in southern Lebanon after having received warning leaflets should be considered "[[terrorist]]s".<ref>{{cite news
| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/28/wmid28.xml
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061026045727/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2006%2F07%2F28%2Fwmid28.xml
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = 26 October 2006
| title = You're all targets, Israel tells Lebanese in South
| access-date = 13 August 2006
| last = de Quetteville
| first = Harry
| date = 28 July 2006
| publisher = The Daily Telegraph
| location = London
}}</ref>
[[Eli Yishai]], Israel's Vice Prime Minister and member of Israel's Security Cabinet, explained: "If Hezbollah fires [[Katyusha rocket launcher|Katyusha]]s, we have to deliver a severe blow to Lebanon's infrastructure, black out Beirut, cut off electricity, turn off the water, destroy bridges, halt industry and flatten entire villages. If there is horrible damage in Lebanon, they will say, 'The [[Jews]] are crazy'" He also said: "If one has to choose between hurting the Israeli home front or the Lebanese home front, I prefer that the Lebanese get hurt. It hurts me to see civilians hurt by our [[Israeli Air Force|air force]], but there is no choice. We cannot be bleeding hearts while our citizens are being hurt. If Lebanese citizens pay the price, they will rise up against Hezbollah."<ref>{{cite web
| title = We failed in the psychological war
| publisher = [[Haaretz]]
|date=21 August 2006
| url =http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=752769
| access-date=26 September 2006
}}</ref>
On 27 July, Professor [[Asa Kasher]], author of the [[Israel Defense Forces Code of Conduct|IDF's Code of Conduct]], said that the IDF may be "morally justified" to "obliterate areas with high concentrations of terrorists, even if civilian casualties result."<ref>{{cite news|title=IDF may be morally justified in flattening terror strongholds |date=28 July 2006 |newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153292016092&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
On 6 August, in reference to [[European Union]] criticism of civilian casualties resulting from IDF activity in Lebanon, Prime Minister Olmert said, "Where do they [European Countries] get the right to preach to Israel?  European countries attacked [[Kosovo]] and killed 10,000 civilians. 10,000! And none of these countries had to suffer before that from a single rocket. I'm not saying it was wrong to intervene in Kosovo. But please: Don't preach to us about the treatment of civilians."<ref>[https://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060806/ts_nm/mideast_olmert_europe_dc ''Olmert tells Europe to stop preaching to Israel''], [[Reuters]], 6 August 2006 {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> According to Human Rights Watch, 500 civilians were killed during the [[Kosovo War]] in attacks confirmed to have been carried out by [[NATO]] forces. However, the [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] government claimed that the bombings resulted in between 1,200 and 5,700 civilian casualties, and some sources put the death toll as high as 18,000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/nato/Natbm200-01.htm|title=Civilian Deaths in the NATO Air Campaign - The Crisis in Kosovo|website=www.hrw.org}}</ref>
An anonymous IDF rocket battery commander commented on the extent of the use of [[cluster bomb]]s by saying "what we did was insane and monstrous, we covered entire towns in cluster bombs." An official IDF spokesman said, "[[International law]] does not include a sweeping prohibition of the use of cluster bombs. The convention on conventional weaponry does not declare a prohibition on [[phosphorus weapons]], rather, on principles regulating the use of such weapons".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/761781.html |title=IDF commander: We fired more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon |last=Rappaport |first=Meron |date=12 September 2006 |website=[[Haaretz]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102071116/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/761781.html |archive-date=2 January 2007 |access-date=17 July 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[US government]] declared its intent to investigate whether Israel's use of US-made cluster bombs in southern Lebanon had violated secret agreements that restrict when it can employ such weapons.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/25/world/middleeast/25cluster.html| title = Inquiry Opened into Israeli Use of U.S. Bombs| access-date = 25 August 2006| date = 24 August 2006| work=The New York Times| first=David S. | last=Cloud}}</ref> As of 6 September 2006, at least 13 people were killed and dozens injured after the ceasefire in Lebanon by [[unexploded ordnance]]. Most of the deaths resulted from the submunitions of cluster bombs. The [[United Nations]] had found 100,000 unexploded cluster bomblets at 359 sites by that time.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5320422.stm | work=BBC News | title=Two die in Lebanon bomb clear-up | date=6 September 2006 | access-date=24 May 2010}}</ref>
====Advance warnings====
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:QanaLeaflet.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A leaflet (authored by the IDF's [[Centre for Consciousness Operations|psychological warfare unit]]) dropped by the IAF on southern Lebanon. It reads: "<u>To all citizens south of the [[Litani River]]</u>: Due to the [[terrorism|terror]] activities being carried out against the [[State of Israel]] from within your villages and homes, the IDF was forced to respond immediately against these activities, even within your villages. For your safety! <u>We call upon you to evacuate your villages immediately and move north of the Litani River</u>. The State of Israel"]] -->
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. These leaflets warned residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate an area approximately 32&nbsp;km wide,<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5202142.stm "Israel calls up army reservists"]. [[BBC News]].  21 July 2006. Retrieved 1 December 2006. "The call-up came as Israel dropped leaflets on southern Lebanon warning residents to immediately evacuate an area approximately 32&nbsp;km (20 miles) wide."</ref> giving civilian populations time to evacuate despite providing an early warning to the intended target, Hezbollah militants. ''The New York Times'' noted that "Israel has been careful to drop leaflets warning civilians in southern Beirut and southern Lebanon where it knows that Hezbollah keeps stores of rockets and launchers in apartment houses, garages and homes."<ref>{{cite news|title=With Israeli Use of Force, Debate Over Proportion|work=[[The New York Times]]|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/world/middleeast/19israel.html?ex=1310961600&en=7e6791fb127de87a |date=19 July 2006 | first=Steven | last=Erlanger | access-date=24 May 2010}}</ref> Also, general leaflets explaining Israel's desire not to bring harm to the Lebanese populace were dropped, asking civilians to "[r]efrain from being located in places in relation to Hezbollah."<ref>{{cite web|title=Israel Leaflets Warning to the Lebanese People |url=http://www.lebanonlinks.com/special/israel_leaflets_warning.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106121152/http://www.lebanonlinks.com/special/israel_leaflets_warning.html |archive-date=6 January 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lebanonlinks.com/special/hundred_thousand_leaflets_dropped.html |title=Hundred Thousand New warning leaflets dropped on downtown Beirut |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106145205/http://www.lebanonlinks.com/special/hundred_thousand_leaflets_dropped.html |archive-date=6 January 2009 }}</ref>
However, the Israeli drops of leaflets before bombings have come under criticism for being used as an excuse for airstrikes that may violate the rules of war and result in civilian deaths. According to [[Human Rights Watch]], "in Qana and other villages in southern Lebanon, thousands of residents have been unable to leave the area because they are sick, wounded, do not have the means to leave or they fear Israeli attacks on vehicles".<ref>{{cite news|title=Lebanon/Israel: IDF Fails to Explain Qana Bombing |publisher=HRW |date=3 August 2006|url=https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/03/lebano13910.htm}}</ref>
The [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] said in a 30 July statement on the IDF's attack on Qana, "Issuing advance warning to the civilian population of impending attacks in no way relieves a warring party of its obligations under the rules and principles of international humanitarian law. In particular, the principles of distinction and proportionality must be respected at all times".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/Lebanon-news-300706!OpenDocument |title=Lebanon/Israel: ICRC alarmed by high number of civilian casualties and disrespect for international humanitarian law |date=30 July 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516161816/http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/Lebanon-news-300706%21OpenDocument |archive-date=16 May 2007 }}</ref>
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."<ref>Bouckaert, Peter.   [http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/03/opinion/edbouck.php "For Israel, innocent civilians are fair game"]. ''International Herald Tribune''.  3 August 2006.  11 August 2006.</ref>
On 6 August 2008, Yonatan Shapiro, a former Blackhawk helicopter pilot dismissed from reserve duty after signing a '[[Refusenik (Israel)|refusnik]]' letter in 2004, said that some Israeli fighter pilots had deliberately missed targets in order to avoid harming civilians, as disquiet grew in the military about flawed intelligence.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/aug/06/israel.syria "Israeli pilots 'deliberately miss' targets"], ''The Guardian'', 6 August 2006</ref>
==== Attacks on ambulances and convoys ====
{{wikinews|Israel attacks Red Cross ambulances on rescue mission}}
{{see also|Attacks on civilian convoys in the 2006 Lebanon war}}
On 13 July three Red Cross volunteers were wounded when an ambulance was hit by IDF.<ref>{{cite news|title=Lebanon/Israel - ICRC Bulletin 01/2006|url=http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList578/B6B54351BD9B6821C12571AF00578FBF|publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross|ICRC]]|date=17 July 2006}}</ref>
On 18 July the IDF attacked a convoy of ambulances and trucks operated by the [[United Arab Emirates Red Crescent]] (UAERC) on the road between Damascus and Beirut. One truck was destroyed, two were damaged and four passenger vehicles were damaged, causing injuries.<ref>{{cite news|title=LEBANON: Aid agencies hampered by Israeli strikes|date=20 July 2006|publisher=Reuters|url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/5daf53e3f8e9daf80bc2a7f91d730c5e.htm|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20060722141453/http%3A//mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/5daf53e3f8e9daf80bc2a7f91d730c5e.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 July 2006}}</ref>
According to [[CNN]]'s [[Paula Zahn]] on 24 July, the [[Red Cross]] said that "an Israeli missile hit two clearly marked Red Cross ambulances that were parked inside the Lebanese town of [[Qana]] evacuating civilians—the wounded included a 60-year-old woman and 12-year-old boy who's now in a coma."<ref name=autogenerated1 /> The ambulances were hit around 11:15 pm while wounded patients were being transferred from one ambulance to another. The ICRC recorded nine people including six Red Cross volunteers wounded in the attack.<ref>{{cite news|title=Lebanon/Israel - ICRC Bulletin 03/2006|url=http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList578/1FE66CF8A9A9FEF2C12571B5005F59A0|publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross|ICRC]]|date=24 July 2006}}</ref> Australian Foreign Minister [[Alexander Downer]] made the [[2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict photographs controversies#Allegations of photo staging by others|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.<ref>The Australian (30 August 2006). [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20300357-2702,00.html "Red Cross slams Downer hoax claim"]. Retrieved 2 December 2006. {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Israel has since said it "cannot tell for sure" if it hit the ambulances.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20976291-401,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616180706/http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C23599%2C20976291-401%2C00.html|url-status=dead|title=Israel says may have hit ambulance|archive-date=16 June 2008}}</ref>
It was reported on 26 July that "at least 10 Lebanese ambulances bearing the emblem of the [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|international red cross]] have [...] become targets in Israeli air strikes",<ref name="Chulov">Martin Chulov, [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19915049-2703,00.html ''Civilians killed as Israelis target ambulances''], ''[[The Australian]]'', 26 July 2006 {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> resulting in the injury of six emergency workers.<ref>Megan Stack, [http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/agonies-anew-for-team-on-the-side-of-the-angels/2006/07/25/1153816182440.html ''Agonies anew for team on the side of the angels''], ''[[The Age]]'', 26 July 2006</ref> Additionally, an ambulance marked as belonging to the Shiite [[Amal Movement|Amal]] militia was struck by Israeli aircraft fire near Tyre.<ref>Ulrike Putz, [http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,428541,00.html ''Lebanese Victims: Please Don't Ask any more Questions'']{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''[[Der Spiegel]]'', 25 July 2006 {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
On 11 August it was reported that the IDF had wounded several aid workers during an airstrike that hit a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance in [[Tibnin]], southeast of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]].<ref>{{cite news
|title=Aid Workers Frustrated Over Lack of Access in Lebanon
|date=11 August 2006
|agency=Associated Press
|url=http://www.easybourse.com/Website/dynamic/News.php?NewsID=41090&lang=fra&NewsRubrique=2
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927230652/http://www.easybourse.com/Website/dynamic/News.php?NewsID=41090&lang=fra&NewsRubrique=2
|archive-date=27 September 2007
}}</ref> It was also reported by [[Associated Press]] that an ambulance dispatched to deal with the casualties from the airstrikes against a [[2006 Marjayoun convoy|civilian convoy originating in Marjayoun]] was also attacked.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3289889,00.html|title=Israeli warplanes plunge Tyre into darkness|date=11 August 2006|access-date=12 August 2006}}</ref> The Red Cross also confirmed that a Red Cross worker had been killed in the attack on the convoy.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/lebanon-news-120806?opendocument|title=Lebanon – Israel: ICRC deplores increasing number of civilian casualties and lack of respect for medical mission|date=11 August 2006|access-date=16 August 2006}}</ref>
====Attacks on homes====
This is not a comprehensive listing:
*On 1 August it was reported that around 250 properties had been hit by IDF air strikes in the [[Baalbek]] area. The BBC described many of the homes as having "no apparent connection with Hezbollah,"<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5233458.stm
|title=Hezbollah is unbowed in Baalbek|publisher=BBC |date=1 August 2006 | first=Martin | last=Asser}}</ref> although the [[Associated Press]] described the targets as "suspected Hezbollah positions."<ref>Hendawi, Hamza. "Israel ground forces intensify attacks, air war resumes despite two-day pause." [[The Associated Press]].  1 August 2006.  11 August 2006.  LexisNexis Academic.</ref>
[[Image:Tyre-Lebanon1.jpg|right|thumb|Aftermath of IDF attack on an apartment block in [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]], Lebanon. ''Courtesy of [https://www.flickr.com/photos/masser/197392882/ Masser]'' ]]
*On 2 August, during the same day that the IDF captured five Hezbollah guerrillas in the Baalbek area, at least 12 people were killed in an air strike on the nearby village of Jammaliyeh. An IDF missile hit the home of the village's mayor, Hussein Jamaleddin, killing his son Ali, and six other relatives. The mayor, a reported political opponent of Hezbollah, survived the attack and witnesses said the building had apparently been attacked "randomly".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/syria/story/0,,1835529,00.html|title=190 Hizbullah rockets hit Israel|date=2 August 2006|access-date=11 August 2006 | work=The Guardian | location=London}}</ref>
*On 6 August it was reported that a total of "2,000 bombs" had been dropped on the town of [[Aitaroun]] by the IDF almost destroying it completely.<ref>Bayhan, Kursat.  [http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&trh=20060806&hn=35401 "Israeli Warplanes Drop 2,000 Bombs on 1 Village"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605050001/http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&trh=20060806&hn=35401 |date=5 June 2011 }}. Zaman.com. 6 August 2006.  11 August 2006.</ref>
*According to the Lebanese Health Minister, on 7 August at least 50 civilians were killed and eleven missing after an IAF missile "destroyed one residential building and damaged several others in the [[Shiyyah]] district of Beirut's southern suburbs."<ref>"[http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08826806.htm "Death toll rises to 30 in Monday raid on Beirut"]. ''[[Reuters]].'' 8 August 2006.  11 August 2006. {{dead link|date=March 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref name=reutersang>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20060816041357/http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L09804177 Angry Shi'ites bury the dead after Beirut attack], 9 August 2006"</ref><ref name="Guardian08-11">"[https://www.theguardian.com/israel/Story/0,,1843090,00.html 'Hot air pushed me off my chair. I was on the ground. I thought I was dead'], 11 August 2006"</ref> The initial toll of wounded was put at sixty.
{{further|2006 Shiyyah airstrike}}
*Also on 7 August the IAF targeted a building in [[Ghaziyeh]]. The attack killed fourteen civilians. The next day on 8 August a further attack on Ghaziyeh against a building which the IDF claimed housed a Hezbollah member took place during the funeral of the previous day's victims and killed a further one civilian. Forty minutes after this the IDF struck again and killed twelve other civilians in three separate bombings. A total of twenty-nine civilians. {{further|2006 Ghaziyeh airstrikes}}
The number of homes destroyed by the IDF was estimated by Hezbollah to be over 15,000 completely destroyed and many more damaged. Other estimates were of 10,000 homes in need rebuilding or repairing.<ref>{{cite news|title=Reconstruction alone estimated at $7bn in Lebanon|date=16 August 2006|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,,1851049,00.html | location=London | first=Brian | last=Whitaker | access-date=24 May 2010}}</ref>
====Attacks on Lebanese industry====
{{main|Attacks affecting Lebanese industry in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict}}
According to a report by Lebanon's Council for Development and Reconstruction, "The government review shows that Israel has largely avoided some types of targets: major power plants, water treatment facilities, telephone systems, central government buildings and most factories. The bombing has focused on [[Shiite]] areas of southern Lebanon and the Beirut suburbs."<ref>"Rebuilding Lebanon" report by Lebanon's Council for Development and Reconstruction, quoted in [https://archive.today/20120907212649/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-infrastructure13aug13,0,394860,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines "Lebanon's Renewal Is Dashed in Weeks"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', 13 August 2006. Retrieved 19 August 2006.</ref> Amnesty International have documented extensive Israeli strikes against Water treatment facilities, power plants, fuel depots, factories, supermarkets and bridges, among others.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/document/?indexNumber=mde18%2f007%2f2006&language=en|title=Document|website=www.amnesty.org}}</ref>
==Allegations regarding various weaponry==
===Use of wide-dispersal-pattern weapons===
====Hezbollah's use====
{{rquote|right|Hezbollah has launched rockets containing thousands of metal ball bearings towards Israeli towns and cities. (...) neither weapon should be used in or near civilian areas as a matter of international law, because the wide blast effects of these weapons cannot be directed at military targets without imposing a substantial risk of civilian harm and the weapons cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians. (...) Like cluster munitions, the use of rocket heads filled with metal ball bearings cannot be targeted precisely and are indiscriminate weapons when used in populated areas. Their use in rockets fired into populated areas appears intended to maximize harm to civilians."|Human Rights Watch<ref name="autogenerated2006"/>}}
Of [[Hezbollah]], [[Human Rights Watch]] has said that the rocket attacks in civilian areas are at best indiscriminate, and at worst deliberate targeting due to their [[anti-personnel]] nature, which suggest a will to maximally harm civilians: "Some of the rockets launched against Haifa over the past two days contained hundreds of metal ball bearings that are of limited use against military targets but cause great harm to civilians and civilian property.  The ball bearings lodge in the body and cause serious harm."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/18/lebano13760.htm|title=Lebanon: Hezbollah Rocket Attacks on Haifa Designed to Kill Civilians|date=18 July 2006|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|access-date=4 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080711023201/http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/18/lebano13760.htm|archive-date=11 July 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> Hezbollah "used Chinese-manufactured 122 mm rockets, carrying 39 sub-munitions that scattered hundreds of ball bearings, against Israel" in the [[2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict]].<ref name="Friedman" /> Many of these ball bearing rockets remain unexploded in the north of Israel.<ref name="Behind" />
====Israel's use====
Of Israel, [[Human Rights Watch]] has said there is evidence that Israel used [[cluster bomb]]s too close to civilians, describing these weapons as "unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians" and saying "they should never be used in populated areas."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/24/isrlpa13798.htm|title=Israeli Cluster Munitions Hit Civilians in Lebanon|date=24 July 2006|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch|HRW]]|access-date=4 December 2016|archive-date=13 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081113070829/http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/24/isrlpa13798.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using cluster munitions in an attack on Bilda, a Lebanese village, on 19 July<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/07/1e054faa-dbad-4810-b5f4-4052663eec42.html | title = Middle East: Rice Calls For A 'New Middle East' | date=25 July 2006 | publisher=[[Radio Free Europe]]}}</ref> which killed 1 civilian and injured 12, including seven children. The Israeli "army defended ... the use of [[cluster munitions]] in its offensive with [[Lebanon]], saying that using such munitions was 'legal under [[international law]]' and the army employed
them 'in accordance with international standards.'"<ref>"EXTRA: Israel defends use of cluster munitions." ''[[Deutsche Presse-Agentur]]''.  25 July 2006.  Politics.  19 August 2006.  LexisNexis Academic.</ref> 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."<ref name="Friedman">Friedman, Ina.  "Deadly Remnants." ''[[The Jerusalem Report]]'' 13 November 2006: 20-22</ref>
On 20 November 2006, the IDF Spokesman's Office said <blockquote>"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."</blockquote>
According to [[Meron Rapoport]], the statements contradict IDF previous claims regarding the use of cluster munitions.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/790417.html |title=Peretz's office admits 'irregularities' in use of cluster bombs during war |newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref>
On 5 September, Israel's Ministry on Foreign Affairs reported: <blockquote>"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.  Furthermore, immediately after the cease-fire the IDF distributed warning notices to the residents in the areas of warfare, and recommended that they wait a few days before returning to the south until the UNIFIL forces were deployed there and the area had been cleared of unexploded ordnance."<ref name="Behind">[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Legal+and+operational+aspects+of+the+use+of+cluster+bombs+5-Sep-2006.htm "Behind the Headlines: Legal and operational aspects of the use of cluster bombs"]. ''The Israeli Government's Official Website, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs''.  5 September 2006.  20 November 2006</ref></blockquote>
On 1 December 2006, some three months later, [[Kofi Annan]] reported to the [[Security Council]]: <blockquote>"Israel has yet to provide UNIFIL with the detailed firing data on its use of cluster munitions that referred to in my previous report. The provision of this data, which would be in keeping with the spirit of Protocol V of the CCW that recently went into force, would significantly assist operators on the ground mitigate the threat to innocent civilians. I reiterate my expectation for the provision of this data."<ref name="annan_report">The Daily Star (4 December 2006). [http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=77367 "UN secretary general's update to the Security Council on Resolution 1701"]. Retrieved 8 December 2006.</ref></blockquote>
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 Coordination Center attached to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/25/AR2006082501298.html?nav=hcmodule| title = In Lebanon's Rubble, Aftershocks of War| access-date = 26 August 2006| date = 26 August 2006| newspaper = The Washington Post | first=Nora | last=Boustany}}</ref>
These unexploded cluster munitions have created "mini-minefields" and the casualties include three Lebanese bomb disposal experts.<ref>{{cite news |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/lebanese-return-to-deadly-fields-of-cluster-bombs/2006/08/26/1156012790693.html |date=27 August 2006 |first=Stephen |last=Collinson |title=Lebanese return to deadly fields of cluster bombs}}</ref> The U.N. Mine Action Co-ordination Centre in [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] claims cluster bombs were dropped by Israel in 267 separate locations in South Lebanon and are still killing returning refugees. The United States has opened an inquiry into Israel's use of cluster bombs, which are supplied by the United States. According to ''[[The New York Times]]'' this is to determine whether Israel had infringed secret rules that restrict where cluster bombs could be used.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/25/world/middleeast/25cluster.html| title = Inquiry Opened into Israeli Use of U.S. Bombs| access-date = 25 August 2006| date = 24 August 2006 | newspaper= The New York Times | first=David S. | last=Cloud}}</ref>
On 6 October 2006, several weeks after the ceasefire, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that "Since the war between Israel and Hezbollah ended in August, nearly three people have been wounded or killed each day by cluster bombs Israel dropped in the waning days of the war, and officials now say it will take more than a year to clear the region of them. United Nations officials estimate that southern Lebanon is littered with one million unexploded bomblets, far outnumbering the 650,000 people living in the region".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/world/middleeast/06cluster.html?_r=2&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fS%2fSlackman%2c%20Michael&oref=slogin&oref=slogin| title=Israeli Bomblets Plague Lebanon| first=Michael| last=Slackman|date=6 October 2006| work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>
An October 2006 report by Landmine Action, "Foreseeable Harm", found that:<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.landmineaction.org/resources/ForeseeableHarmfinal.pdf |title=Foreseeable Harm |access-date=17 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001124442/http://www.landmineaction.org/resources/ForeseeableHarmfinal.pdf |archive-date=1 October 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
<blockquote>"Two months after the ceasefire of 14 August 2006, the contamination caused by cluster munitions was still exacting a daily toll in south Lebanon. Over this period an average of between 3 and 4 civilians had been killed or injured by unexploded submunitions every day – some 35% of these casualties were children. Civilian casualties will continue to rise as more and more people return to sift through the cluster munition infested rubble. Livelihoods have been destroyed, and desperately needed relief and rehabilitation has been impeded. Throughout southern Lebanon large areas of agricultural land are contaminated by failed but still potentially lethal 'submunitions'. In many affected areas farmers have not been able to safely harvest what was left of this summer's tobacco, wheat and fruit; late yielding crops such as olives will remain too dangerous to harvest by November and winter crops will be lost because farmers will be unable to plough their contaminated land to plant their grains and vegetables. 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."</blockquote>
On 1 December 2006, U.N. Secretary-General [[Kofi Annan]] submitted a report to the Security Council president stating that, as of 20 November 2006, 822 cluster bomb strike sites had been recorded,<ref>Ynet News (2 December 2006). [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3335032,00.html "Annan finds 13 incidents of illicit arms in Lebanon"]. Retrieved 8 December 2006.</ref> with 60,000 cluster bomblets having been cleared by the [[Mine Action Coordination Center|UN Mine Action Coordination Center]].<ref name="annan_report" /> On 28 January 2007, the State Department said that Israel may have violated agreements with the United States when it fired American supplied cluster munitions into civilian areas of southern Lebanon.<ref>Cloud, David S.[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/world/middleeast/28cluster.html?em&ex=1170046800&en=2b88e94a0c2eacec&ei=5087%0A Israel May Have Violated Arms Pact, U.S. Says] NYTimes.</ref>
===Use of white phosphorus weapons===
On 16 July 2006, Lebanese President [[Émile Lahoud]] claimed that Israeli forces dropped "[[white phosphorus (weapon)|phosphorus incendiary bombs]], which are a blatant violation of international laws ... against Lebanese civilians".<ref name="DailyStarGeneva">{{cite web
| url = http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=73994
| title = Lebanon under Israeli attack: Sunday Roundup
| access-date = 9 August 2006
| date = 16 July 2006
| publisher = [[Daily Star (Lebanon)|Daily Star]] (registration required)
}}</ref><ref name="Naharnet">{{cite news | url= http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/0/0ECB74B32C97055CC22571AD00526087?OpenDocument | title =Lebanon Accuses Israel of Using Internationally Prohibited Weapons Against Civilians | date = 16 July 2006 | access-date = 20 July 2006 | publisher=[[Naharnet]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/07/post_14.php|title=Updated report on the war in Lebanon – Day 8|date=19 July 2006|access-date=20 July 2006|publisher=[[Ya Libnan]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429214458/http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/07/post_14.php|archive-date=29 April 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Information Minister [[Ghazi Aridi]] also said, "Israel is using internationally prohibited weapons against civilians."<ref name="DailyStarGeneva" /><ref name="Naharnet" /><ref name="AljGeneva">{{cite news|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=11728 |title=Israel uses banned weapons against Lebanese civilians |date=17 July 2006 |access-date=20 July 2006 |publisher=[[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022003933/http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=11728 |archive-date=22 October 2012 }}</ref> ''[[As-Safir]]'' newspaper also ran a story about alleged use of unknown chemical weapons, citing a member of the "French Association of Cardiovascular Surgeons".<ref name=";As Safir">[http://www.assafir.com/iso/israeli-aggression/ "Israeli Aggression on Lebanon"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710130443/http://www.assafir.com/iso/israeli-aggression/ |date=10 July 2010 }}, 19 and 21 July 2006, in ''[[As-Safir]]''. Retrieved 3 August 2006.</ref> Jawad Najem, a surgeon at a Tyre hospital, claims that he has treated patients with [[white phosphorus|phosphorus]] burns. Other doctors in Southern Lebanon also suspect they are seeing phosphorus burns. On 24 July Lebanese President [[Émile Lahoud]] stated on France's RFI radio:"According to the Geneva Convention, when they use phosphorus bombs and laser bombs, is that allowed against civilians and children?"  An IDF spokeswomen replied to the Lahoud's statement by saying, "Everything the Israeli Defense Forces are using is legitimate"<ref name="ReutersAlertNet">{{cite news|url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L24911888.htm |title=Lebanon president says Israel uses phosphorus arms |date=16 July 2006 |publisher=Reuters |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060816003504/http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L24911888.htm |archive-date=16 August 2006 }}</ref>
After conducting an investigation of the claims,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5213026.stm |title=Israel urged to shun cluster bomb|date=25 July 2006|publisher=BBC}}</ref> Israel has "denied that charge and in a statement, the Israeli military said that all of its weapons and ammunition comply with the international law. For the record, under international law, white phosphorus is permitted."<ref name="Cooper">[[Anderson Cooper|Cooper, Anderson]], et al.  "Crisis in the Middle East: Day 13; Mission: Diplomacy; Strategy Session; Phosphorus Fact Check; Waging War; Sunni vs. Shia; Inside Hezbollah; Underground Agony." [[CNN]].  24 July 2006, Show: "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees 11:00 PM EST:" NEWS; International. 18 August 2006. LexisNexis Academic.</ref> [[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]], [[CNN]] senior medical correspondent, said: <blockquote>"They have used <nowiki>[white phosphorus]</nowiki> for all sorts of different things including tracers for weapons, which is why I think it's allowed under a lot of international law.  There's no test for it specifically and it's really present just about everywhere. It can be present in fertilizer as well. So it is very hard to test for. ... It's not something that people have outlawed in some way. It's present in a lot of different things."<ref name="Cooper" /></blockquote>
[[Amnesty International]] also warned against "reports that Israel has used incendiary weapons, such as white phosphorus shells"<ref name="MDE 15/070/2006">{{cite web
| url = https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/070/2006/en/
| title = Israel/lebanon: Israel and Hizbullah must Spare Civilians
| access-date = 9 August 2006
| date = 27 July 2006
| publisher = [[Amnesty International]]
}}
</ref> It precised that: <blockquote>"Protocol III on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons of the [[UN Convention on the Prohibition or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons]] prohibits the use of such weapons against civilians. And it prohibits making any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by incendiary weapons."</blockquote>
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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Israel admits using phosphorus bombs during war in Lebanon|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/777549.html|date=22 October 2006|newspaper=[[Haaretz]]}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121106165047/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-10/23/content_5237418.htm "Israel confirms use of phosphorus shells in war on Hezbollah"], [[Xinhua]], 23 October 2006</ref>
===Allegations of depleted uranium use===
Amnesty International has called on Israel to consider refraining from the use of weapons with [[depleted uranium]] munitions, due to health risks. The effect of the [[radioactive]] dust created on impact is debated, though the weapon itself is considered "toxic and constitutes a health risk independent of any residual radioactivity" due to the nature of [[heavy metals]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/070/2006/en/ |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |title=Obligations under international humanitarian law of the parties to the conflict in Israel and Lebanon |date=26 July 2006 }}</ref>
Depleted uranium weapons have been cited in some studies as contributing factors in [[Gulf War syndrome]] and increases in birth defects amongst residents within contaminated areas – the issue of DU use has also been raised by the Lebanese Government in the past,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://english.people.com.cn/english/200101/20/eng20010120_60955.html |work=[[Peoples Daily China]] |title=Lebanon to Present Files to UN on Israel's Use of DU Weapons |date=20 July 2006}}</ref> although the effect is widely debated, and the [[World Health Organization]] has concluded that "under most circumstances, use of DU will make a negligible contribution to the overall natural background levels of uranium."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815092349/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/|url-status=dead|title=World Health Organization: Depleted Uranium|archive-date=15 August 2012}}</ref>
The accusations prompted criticism by [[HonestReporting]] for coming to conclusions prematurely,<ref>[http://www.honestreporting.co.uk/articles/critiques/Indies_Uranium_Charges.asp Indie's Uranium Charges] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601135704/http://www.honestreporting.co.uk/articles/critiques/Indies_Uranium_Charges.asp |date=1 June 2016 }} by [[HonestReporting]]</ref> and resulted in an investigation by the [[United Nations Environment Programme]] ([[UNEP]]).<ref name="independent_investigates">{{cite news| title=UN investigates Israel's 'uranium weapons'| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/un-investigates-israels-uranium-weapons-422210.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229224413/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/un-investigates-israels-uranium-weapons-422210.html |archive-date=2008-12-29 |url-access=limited |url-status=live| work=[[The Independent]]| date=30 October 2006 | location=London | first=Eric | last=Silver | access-date=12 May 2010}}</ref> On 8 November 2006, [[UNEP]] concluded that [[Israel]] had not used any form of [[Uranium]]-based weapons.<ref name="un_nouranium">{{cite news| title=Israel did not use depleted uranium during conflict with Hizbollah, UN agency finds| url=https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20532&Cr=leban&Cr1| publisher=[[UN News Centre]]| date=8 November 2006}}</ref><ref name="ynet_nouranium">{{cite news| title=UN: No IDF uranium bomb use in Lebanon| url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3325254,00.html| publisher=[[YNet]]| date=8 November 2006}}</ref> [[Israelis]] and [[Israel]] advocates cite the article as an instance of "shoddy journalism", arising allegedly as a result of [[#Exaggeration or sensationalism|media sensationalism]].<ref name="honestreporting_noretractionforindiesfalseuraniumlibel">[http://www.honestreporting.co.uk/articles/critiques/No_Retraction_For_Indies_False_Uranium_Libel.asp No Retraction For Indie's False Uranium Libel] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601160302/http://www.honestreporting.co.uk/articles/critiques/No_Retraction_For_Indies_False_Uranium_Libel.asp |date=1 June 2016 }} by [[Honest Reporting]]</ref>
==Reactions to attacks==
{{see also|International reactions to the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict|International reactions to the 2006 Qana airstrike}}
===United Nations===
UN's [[United Nations Secretary-General|Secretary-General]] [[Kofi Annan]] criticized Israel for using cluster bombs, while [[Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator]] [[Jan Egeland]] accused Israel of "completely immoral" use of the munitions in the country. Amnesty International stated on 30 August 2006 that it was "outrageous" that Israel had not yet provided maps indicating where cluster bombs were used, reiterating that their use "in the heart of where people live clearly violates the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks" and was therefore "a grave violation of international humanitarian law". On 1 September 2006 IDF said it would provide UNIFIL with maps of South Lebanon that indicated where bombs or other devices that did not explode may be found.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2074883&C=landwar|title=Defense News<!-- Bot generated title -->}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
UN's [[Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator]] [[Jan Egeland]] criticized [[Hezbollah]] for its alleged use of Lebanese civilians as "human shields", stating: "Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children.... I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men".<ref>{{cite news|title=UN humanitarian chief blasts Hizbullah |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153291989232&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |date=25 July 2006 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=U.N. Exec Blames Hezbollah for Deaths |url=https://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ap/2006/07/24/ap2900705.html |work=[[Forbes]] |date=24 July 2006 }}{{dead link|date=January 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna13929959 "Israeli missile hits south Lebanon house; 7 die"]. [[NBC News]].  25 July 2006.  19 August 2006.</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,205352,00.html "U.N. Chief Accuses Hezbollah of 'Cowardly Blending' Among Refugees"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111204152425/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,205352,00.html |date=4 December 2011 }} Fox News.  24 July 2006.  19 August 2006.</ref>
He called Hezbollah rocket attacks into northern Israel and Israeli aerial bombing in Lebanon violations of humanitarian law.<ref>{{cite news|title=Condoleezza Rice meets with Mid-East leaders (transcript)|date=25 July 2006|publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|url=http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1696621.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-23T094600Z_01_L23862127_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MIDEAST-EGELAND.xml |title=Israel bombing breaks humanitarian law - UN official |date=23 July 2006 |publisher=Reuters }}{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> He accused Hezbollah of "cowardly blending ... among women and children" and condemned their rumored pride at "having many more children and women dead than armed men."
UN's [[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|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." She suggested that the actions of Israel and Hezbollah may constitute [[war crime]]s.<ref>{{cite news|title=UN warning on Mid-East war crimes|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5197544.stm|publisher=BBC|date=20 July 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Toll Rises in Middle East|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/world/middleeast/20mideast.html?ei=5094&en=c9b26163f93ed42f&hp=&ex=1153454400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=19 July 2006 | first1=Jad | last1=Mouawad | first2=Steven | last2=Erlanger | access-date=24 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title='Is this the price to pay?' Lebanese PM asks |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/is-this-the-price-to-pay-lebanese-pm-asks-1.617016 |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] |date=19 July 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518194631/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/is-this-the-price-to-pay-lebanese-pm-asks-1.617016 |archive-date=18 May 2007 }}</ref> Arbour called for Israel to obey the "principle of proportionality" and said, "Indiscriminate shelling of cities constitutes a foreseeable and unacceptable targeting of civilians.... Similarly, the bombardment of sites with alleged military significance, but resulting invariably in the killing of innocent civilians, is unjustifiable."<ref>{{cite news|title=UN warning on Mid-East war crimes|date=20 July 2006|work=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5197544.stm}}</ref>
A Human Rights Council found no evidence regarding the use of "human shields" by Hezbollah. However, there was evidence of Hezbollah using UNIFIL and Observer Group Lebanon posts as deliberate shields for the firing of their rockets.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://reliefweb.int/report/lebanon/report-commission-inquiry-lebanon-pursuant-human-rights-council-resolution-s-21-0|title=Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lebanon pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution S-2/1 - Lebanon|website=ReliefWeb|date=10 November 2006 }}</ref>
===Amnesty International===
[[Amnesty International]] condemned both Israel and Hezbollah and called for UN intervention, stating early on that the region "has seen a horrendous escalation in attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure.  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".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGIOR410122006 |title=UN: Security Council must adopt urgent measures to protect civilians in Israel-Lebanon conflict |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071127013250/http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGIOR410122006 |archive-date=27 November 2007}}</ref> Amnesty International later accused Israel of war crimes due to its assault on Lebanese civilian infrastructure.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=[[Fox News]] |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/amnesty-international-accuses-israel-of-war-crimes |title=Amnesty International Accuses Israel of War Crimes |date=22 August 2006 |access-date=17 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611054952/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,209890,00.html |archive-date=11 June 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release
|title        = Lebanon: Deliberate destruction or "collateral damage"? Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure
|publisher    = Amnesty International
|date         = 23 August 2006
|url          = https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde18/007/2006/en/
|access-date   = 23 August 2006}}</ref>
Amnesty International has also accused Hezbollah of war crimes due to "deliberately failing to distinguish between civilian and military targets, and of wrongfully seeking to justify its barrage by claiming to be retaliating for Israel's attacks on Lebanese civilians".<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/hezbollah-accused-of-war-crimes/2006/09/14/1157827090791.html
| title = Hezbollah accused of war crimes
| access-date = 15 September 2006
| last = O’Loughlin
| first = Ed
| date = 15 September 2006
| work = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
}}
</ref><ref name = "AIHezWC">{{cite web
| url = https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde02/025/2006/en/
| title = Under fire: Hizbullah's attacks on northern Israel
| access-date = 15 September 2006
| date = 14 September 2006
| publisher = [[Amnesty International]]
}}
</ref> On 21 November 2006, Amnesty International released a report stating that there was not "conclusive evidence of intent" by Hezbollah to use the civilian population as "human shields" for its military activities.<ref name="AINov21" />
===Human Rights Watch===
[[Human Rights Watch]] condemned what they considered to be indiscriminate use of force against civilians by both Israel and Hezbollah. They blamed Israel for systematically failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians, which may constitute a war crime, and accused Hezbollah of committing war crimes by the deliberate and indiscriminate killing of civilians by firing rockets into populated areas. The organization also strongly criticized Israel for using [[cluster bomb]]s too close to civilians because of their inaccuracy and unreliability, and Hezbollah for filling its rockets with [[ball bearing]]s, which "suggests a desire to maximize harm to civilians".<ref name=HRW_UN_request>{{cite news|title=U.N.: Open Independent Inquiry into Civilian Deaths|date=8 August 2006|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|url=http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/08/lebano13939.htm|access-date=4 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070112101515/https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/08/lebano13939.htm|archive-date=12 January 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/24/isrlpa13798.htm|title=Israeli Cluster Munitions Hit Civilians in Lebanon|date=24 July 2006|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|access-date=4 December 2016|archive-date=13 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081113070829/http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/24/isrlpa13798.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/18/lebano13760.htm| title = Lebanon: Hezbollah Rocket Attacks on Haifa Designed to Kill Civilians| access-date = 13 August 2006| date = 18 July 2006| publisher = [[Human Rights Watch]]| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080711023201/http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/18/lebano13760.htm| archive-date = 11 July 2008| url-status = dead}}</ref>
However, HRW's reporting on the war has been questioned.  Edith Everett, an HRW board member, stated, "It seemed to me that there was a commitment to a point of view—that Israel's the bad guy here."<ref>Birnbaum, Ben.  [http://www.tnr.com/article/minority-report-2?page=0,1 "Minority Report"]. ''The New Republic''.  27 April 2010.  13 January 2012</ref> More than a year after the war, by HRW's own admission, their reporting had been faulty on key incidents in distinguishing between Lebanese civilian casualties and Hezbollah enemy combatant casualties.<ref>{{cite book |title=Why They Died: Civilian Casualties in Lebanon During the 2006 War, Volume 19
|first=Peter |last=Bouckaert |publisher=Human Rights Watch |page=28 |year=2007
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8P9-VqpNRv4C&q=%22forthcoming+about+the+identity+of+those+that+died,+and+in+the+case+of+Srifa,+misled+our+researchers,%22&pg=PA28 }}</ref>
===United States===
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".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060725-070915-4783r |access-date=17 July 2010 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
===United Kingdom===
In response to American support and Israel's military tactics, [[Kim Howells]], British Foreign Office minister, said in an interview with [[CNN]], "I hope that the Americans understand what's happening to Lebanon: the destruction of the infrastructure, the death of so many children, and so many people. These have not been surgical strikes, and it's very, very difficult I think to understand the kind of military tactics that have been used. You know if they're chasing Hezbollah, well go for Hezbollah. You don't go for the entire Lebanese nation, and that's the difference."<ref>{{cite news|title=CNN International Live|publisher=CNN|date=22 July 2006}}</ref>
===ITIC Report===
The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies, a private research group headed by Reuven Erlich, a retired IDF colonel, organized a team of military intelligence experts and compiled a report in conjunction with lawyers from the Israeli army and Foreign Ministry. 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. It says that Hezbollah operated from civilian areas to deter the IDF and gain a propaganda advantage. The report also says that Hezbollah has been preparing for such an engagement for years, embedding its fighters and their weapons in the Shiite villages of southern Lebanon. Some cases the report documents include:
* Guerrillas stashing weapons in hundreds of private homes and mosques, having fighters transporting missiles closely follow ambulances, and firing rockets near UN monitoring posts.
* Hezbollah bases, weapons and ammunition stores hidden within civilian population centers in south Beirut, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
* A truck with a multi-barreled missile launcher, presumably from Hezbollah, parking in a street, sandwiched between residential buildings
* In a Lebanese village, rockets are seen being fired from a launcher on the back of a truck. The truck then drives a short distance and disappears inside a building.
* Lebanese residents' comments of the activities of Hezbollah within civilian communities
* Interrogations with Muhammad Srour, a young Hezbollah fighter, revealed:
** He had initially received training in Iran and was undergoing further training in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley when the war broke out.
** While transporting missiles, hidden in cloth, in and around a Lebanese village, he held a white flag.
* Hussein Suleiman, a Hezbollah fighter, explains how he had set up a rocket-firing position on the front porch of a house on the outskirts of a Lebanese town.
* Maher Kourani, a Hezbollah fighter, said group members had worn civilian clothes, tried never to show their weapons, and traveled in ordinary civilian cars.
Other than two villages, Erlich said that over all, Hezbollah did not coerce Lebanese villagers from leaving. He says instead, "Hezbollah was operating inside a supportive population, and cynically used them to further its own goals."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881823793&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull|title=Study could acquit Israel of war crimes|publisher=[[Associated Press]] via [[The Jerusalem Post]]|date=5 December 2006|access-date=12 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120129002721/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881823793&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|archive-date=29 January 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In Lebanon, a Hezbollah official denied the study's allegations, saying its military units were based outside towns and villages and had come into populated areas only when circumstances required it. "We tried to avoid having to fight among civilian areas, but when Israeli troops entered villages, we were automatically forced to fight them from inside these villages to defend it," said the official.<ref name="nytimes1" />
===Individuals===
====Sympathetic toward Israel====
Upon UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights [[Louise Arbour]]'s statement that [[Israel]] is breaking [[international law]], [[Alan Dershowitz]], a professor at [[Harvard Law School]], wrote: <blockquote>"Arbour's knowledge of international law is as questionable as her understanding of morality. Virtually every democratic nation has been forced to bomb cities during wartime, especially when the enemy locates crucial military targets near population centres. Under Arbour's erroneous criteria for criminal prosecution, U.S. presidents Bush, Clinton, Nixon, Johnson, Eisenhower, Truman and Roosevelt, as well as British prime ministers Blair and Churchill, and numerous French, Russian, Canadian and other heads of state would be declared war criminals for causing the 'foreseeable' deaths of civilians while bombing legitimate military targets."<ref>[[Alan Dershowitz|Dershowitz, Alan M.]]  [http://jewishworldreview.com/0706/dershowitz072006.php3 "Arithmetic of Pain"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525194531/http://jewishworldreview.com/0706/dershowitz072006.php3 |date=25 May 2011 }}. ''Jewish World Review''.  20 July 2006.  1 October 2006.</ref></blockquote>
David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey wrote for ''[[The Washington Post]]'': <blockquote>"Unfortunately, heavy civilian casualties are the inherent and inevitable result of the type of asymmetric warfare deliberately waged by [[Hezbollah]] ....  They intentionally operate from civilian areas, both to protect their military capabilities from attack and to increase civilian deaths, which can then be trumpeted for propaganda purposes.  But the presence of a large civilian population does not immunize Hezbollah ... forces from attack.  Responsibility for any additional civilian casualties must be attributed to those groups, not to Israel."<ref>Casey, Lee A. and David B. Rivkin Jr.  [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/25/AR2006072501300_pf.html "Israel Is Within Its Rights"]. ''The Washington Post''.  26 July 2006.  2 October 2006.</ref></blockquote>
====Critical of Israel====
[[Robert Fisk]], a correspondent for ''[[The Independent]]'', said "Hezbollah is killing more Israeli soldiers than civilians and the Israelis are killing far more Lebanese civilians than they are guerrillas."<ref>{{cite news|title=Entire Lebanese family killed in Israeli attack on hospital|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article1211295.ece|first=Robert|last=Fisk|work=[[The Independent]]|date=3 August 2006|location=London|access-date=17 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706161530/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article1211295.ece|archive-date=6 July 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[Mitch Prothero]] countered both Dershowitz's argument and that of Rivkin, Casey, Fisk, and Cook in an article published by [[Salon.com]] and widely cited elsewhere:
<blockquote>"My own reporting and that of other journalists reveals that in fact Hezbollah fighters -- as opposed to the much more numerous Hezbollah political members, and the vastly more numerous Hezbollah sympathizers -- avoid civilians.  Much smarter and better trained than the PLO and Hamas fighters, they know that if they mingle with civilians, they will sooner or later be betrayed by collaborators -- as so many Palestinian militants have been... The targeting of civilian facilities may be the result of liberal definitions within the Israeli military as to what constitutes a Hezbollah target; Hezbollah's civilian wing is Lebanon's second largest employer, and its facilities include hospitals and schools, among other non-military assets. While employees may be on the Hezbollah payroll, they are not often if ever participants in or knowledgeable about Hezbollah military activity."<ref>Prothero, Mitch.  [http://peaceandjustice.org/article.php?story=20060728144749682&mode=print "The 'hiding among civilians' myth"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307194422/http://peaceandjustice.org/article.php?story=20060728144749682 |date=7 March 2012 }}.  28 July 2006.  19 August 2006.</ref></blockquote>
==See also==
*[[2006 Qana airstrike]]
*[[Al-Qaa airstrike]]
*[[Chyah airstrike]]
*[[Ghaziyeh airstrikes]]
*[[Marjayoun convoy incident|2006 Marjayoun convoy incident]]
*[[Israeli war crimes]]
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141031034834/http://www.ajcongress.org/site/PageServer?pagename=secret2 Israeli report] — Hezbollah's use of Lebanese civilian areas to launch missiles at Israel.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081007093233/http://www.whylebanon.net/index6.php Photographs] — Lebanese civilian casualties and infrastructure damage.
{{War crimes}}{{2006 Lebanon War}}
[[Category:2006 Lebanon War]]
[[Category:War crimes in the Israeli–Lebanese conflict|Lebanon War, 2006]]