Amnesty International says Israel ‘wiping out families’ in Lebanon

Al Jazeera - The London-based rights group has accused Israel of “wiping out families” in its attacks on Lebanon, and called for the attacks to be treated as “war crimes”.

Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said “within the space of just a week the Israeli military obliterated entire families, including a dozen children, in Lebanon, demonstrating a callous disregard for civilian lives”.

“States must impose an immediate comprehensive arms embargo on Israel and use universal and extraterritorial jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those responsible,” she added.

In its latest report, the organisation said: “Israeli forces violated international humanitarian law, including by failing to distinguish between civilians and military objectives, by carrying out attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects, or by failing to take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians.”