Flooding South Lebanon - Human Rights Watch

Conclusion
Israel’s use of cluster munitions in south Lebanon in 2006 was characterized by
extensive and intensive attacks across civilian areas and swaths of territory, leaving
an extremely high number of duds that are creating foreseeable deaths and injuries
to civilians. These factors lead us to conclude Israel’s attacks were indiscriminate
and disproportionate, and thus illegal under international humanitarian law. The IDF
also appears to have launched an attack, either recklessly or deliberately, on
Tebnine Hospital, a protected place under international law. Israel has a duty to
credibly investigate these violations of IHL as potential war crimes.
This use of cluster munitions highlights the grave humanitarian consequences of
these inaccurate and unreliable weapons. In Lebanon, the victims of exploding duds
have overwhelmingly been civilians, and submunitions have devastated the
country’s agriculture, destroying the livelihood of many families. Hidden duds will
continue to haunt villagers and cause deaths and injuries until total clearance is
achieved. For Lebanese civilians, the war did not end when the ceasefire was signed.
The tragedy that has taken place in Lebanon should serve as a catalyst to both
national measures and a new international treaty on cluster munitions. States
should immediately observe a moratorium on the use, production, and transfer of
cluster munitions. Then, to protect civilians around the world, states should join the
new effort to develop a legally binding instrument that bans cluster munitions that
have an unacceptable humanitarian effect.
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Human Rights Watch February 2008