Amnesty International said Tuesday that the Israeli army’s extensive destruction of civilian property in south Lebanon, including after a ceasefire with Hezbollah was struck, should be investigated as a war crime.<\/p>\n
The November 27 truce largely ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that culminated in two months of open war during which Israel sent in ground troops and conducted a major bombing campaign.<\/p>\n
“The Israeli military’s extensive and deliberate destruction of civilian property and agricultural land across southern Lebanon must be investigated as war crimes,” Amnesty said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The rights group’s Erika Guevara Rosas said in the statement that the destruction had “rendered entire areas uninhabitable and ruined countless lives”.<\/p>\n
Israel has said its military action targeted Hezbollah sites and operatives, and it continues to strike Lebanon despite the ceasefire.<\/p>\n
Under the truce, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back from near the border, with the Lebanese army deploying to the south and dismantling the militant group’s infrastructure there.<\/p>\n
Israel was to fully withdraw its troops from Lebanon, but it has kept them in several border areas it deems strategic.<\/p>\n
Amnesty said it sent Israeli authorities questions in late June about the destruction but had not received a response.<\/p>\n
The group said its analysis covered from October 1 of last year — around the start of Israel’s ground offensive — until late January of this year, and showed “more than 10,000 structures were heavily damaged or destroyed during that time”.<\/p>\n
It noted that “much of the destruction took place after November 27”, when the truce took effect.<\/p>\n
“Israeli forces used manually laid explosives and bulldozers to devastate civilian structures, including homes, mosques, cemeteries, roads, parks and soccer pitches, across 24 municipalities,” it said.<\/p>\n
The rights group said it used verified videos, photographs and satellite imagery to investigate the destruction.<\/p>\n
“In some videos, soldiers filmed themselves celebrating the destruction by singing and cheering,” it said.<\/p>\n
It added much of the destruction was done “in apparent absence of imperative military necessity and in violation” of international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n
Amnesty noted that “the previous use of a civilian building by a party to the conflict does not automatically render it a military objective”.<\/p>\n
In March, the World Bank put the war’s total economic cost on Lebanon at $14 billion, including $6.8 billion in damage to physical structures.<\/p>\n
Authorities in cash-strapped Lebanon have yet to launch reconstruction efforts, and are hoping for international support, particularly from Gulf countries.<\/p>\n
lk\/lg\/smw<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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