'Israel must give bomb sites'

2006-09-01 09:08

London - In an effort to prevent more civilian deaths, Amnesty International has called on Israel to provide maps of where it fired cluster bombs into Lebanon.

The London-based human rights organisation said Israel should co-operate with an impartial investigation into its use of the bombs in the country.

The United Nations has identified more than 400 areas contaminated with at least 100 000 unexploded bomblets.

UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan and the organisation's humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, have criticised Israel for using cluster bombs during its month-long war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The UN has also said that 90% of Israel's cluster bomb strikes were launched in the final 72 hours of the conflict, when a ceasefire was looming.

Amnesty's executive deputy secretary general, Kate Gilmore, said on Friday that it was "outrageous" that Israel had not yet provided the maps.

"The use of cluster bombs in the heart of where people live clearly violates the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks and is therefore a grave violation of international humanitarian law," she said.

"This failure is further endangering the lives of Lebanese civilians, particularly children."

Gilmore said the United States should not supply Israel with cluster bombs.

Cluster munitions are shells that eject multiple small submunitions, or bomblets.

They are particularly dangerous because they have a high level of duds that can explode much later after the attack.

Responding to Annan's condemnation on Thursday, Israel said its choice of weapons during the offensive had conformed to international law.

- AFP