HRW condemns Israeli civilian attacks

JERUSALEM, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Human Rights Watch says indiscriminate Israeli air strikes caused most of the 900 civilian deaths during the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The watchdog group, which investigated more than 500 of the deaths, said there was no evidence of widespread use of human shields by Hezbollah during the attacks in July and August of last year.

"Israel wrongfully acted as if all civilians had heeded its warnings to evacuate southern Lebanon when it knew they had not, disregarding its continuing legal duty to distinguish between military targets and civilians," Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said Thursday in a statement. "Issuing warnings doesn’t make indiscriminate attacks lawful."

The group said simple movement, such as attempting to buy bread or moving about private homes, could be enough to cause a deadly Israeli airstrike. Israeli warplanes also targeted moving vehicles that turned out to be carrying only civilians trying to flee the conflict.