Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing war crimes in Lebanon by deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure. The destruction of homes, bridges, roads, and water and fuel plants were an “integral part” of Israel’s strategy, yet Israel still claims they did not deliberately target Lebanon’s civilian population. The human rights group called on the UN to conduct an investigation into whether Israel or Hezbollah broke humanitarian law.

A report by Amnesty International lists the “massive destruction by Israeli forces of whole civilian neighborhoods and villages”, along with attacks on bridges “in areas of no apparent strategic importance”, as evidence to support its claim. It also says Israel targeted supermarkets, water pumping stations and water treatment plants, which may have broken a prohibition in humanitarian law against targeting objects crucial to civilian survival. The report lists Israeli statements - such as comments made by Israeli Chief of Staff Lt Gen Dan Halutz that “nothing is safe [in Lebanon], as simple as that” - to support its claims.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel’s actions during the war were “in accordance with recognised norms of behaviour during conflicts and with relevant international law. Unlike Hezbollah, we did not deliberately target the Lebanese civilian population,” he said. Lebanese infrastructure was “targeted only when that infrastructure was being exploited by the Hezbollah machine, and this is in accordance with the rules of war”, Mr Regev said.

However, Kate Gilmore, Executive Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International, claims the attacks on infrastructure were “manifestly wrong”. “The pattern, scope and scale of the attacks makes Israel’s claim that this was ‘collateral damage’, simply not credible.” She went on further to say, “many of the violations identified in our report are war crimes, including indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks.” Amnesty International will look into Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel separately. Around 1,000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, were killed by Israel while only 161 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed by Hezbollah.

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