A report by the New York based Human Rights Watch states that Israel conducted indiscriminate air raids against Lebanese civilians during the July War with the military wing of Hezbollah. The report alleges that Israel acted with “reckless indifference” regarding the fate of civilians and questioned Israel's argument that Hezbollah was using civilians as human shields. The five month study said it could find no evidence that human shields were employed by the Shi’ite guerrilla movement, but also noted that Hezbollah “indiscriminately and at times deliberately” targeted Israeli civilians.
The 249 page report, entitled “Why They Died: Civilian Casualties in Lebanon during the 2006 War”, noted that Israel failed to make distinctions between military and civilian targets, often targeting Hezbollah's social welfare and political interests. The report also notes that Israel did not distinguish between Hezbollah guerilla's and civilians fleeing combat;
“Hezbollah fighters often didn't carry their weapons in the open or regularly wear uniforms, which made them a hard target to identify. But that doesn't justify the Israel Defense Force's failure to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and if in doubt to treat a person as a civlian, as the laws of war require.”
Israel has countered that it was indeed acting within the standards of military conduct. Mark Regev, Israel's Foreign Minister, stated Israel had acted accordingly, citing a CNN interview with a U.N. relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, who stated that Hezbollah guerrilla's were “shielding themselves close to U.N. posts and close to the civilian population.” “Hezbollah had a clear pattern of behavior where it embedded itself among the Lebanese civilian population and exploited it as human shields,” Regev stated. Mr. Regev also noted that Israel had issued several warnings to citizens in southern Lebanon to evacuate the area, however, Human Rights Watch officials countered that “issuing warnings doesn't make indiscriminate attacks lawful.”
On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israeli targets, including Israeli border patrols. Hezbollah attacks killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others. Israel responded with massive force against a wide range of targets in southern Lebanon, as well as bombing the runway of Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport. Hezbollah responsed with Katyusha rocket attacks against civilian targets in Israel. After a U.N. brokered ceasefire, both sides were officially criticized for their actions during the conflict.
More than 1,000 Lebanese civilians were killed during the conflict, in addition to 119 Israeli soldiers and 40 Israeli civilians.
