Israel, Hizbollah broke human rights law-UN envoys

GENEVA, Oct 3 (Reuters) Both Israel and Hizbollah were guilty of serious violations of international humanitarian law during the month-long Lebanon war, four UN human rights envoys said today.

Israel did not distinguish between military and civilian targets, failed to apply the principle of proportionality and did not take all precautions to limit injury and damage to civilians during the July 12-August 14 conflict, they said.

Hizbollah guerrillas, whose seizing of two Israeli soldiers triggered the fighting, violated human rights law by firing Katyusha rockets loaded with lethal anti-personnel ball bearings at civilian areas in northern Israel, the investigators said.

The violations by both sides led to many deaths and injuries, caused widespread destruction and forced large numbers of people to flee their homes, the investigators said in a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

''The mission concludes that serious violations of both human rights and humanitarian law have been committed by Israel,'' the four envoys said following a visit to Israel and Lebanon.

''In many instances, Hizbollah violated the applicable principles of humanitarian law, in some cases by targeting the civilian population in northern Israel, and in others by disregarding the principle of distinction,'' they said.

The four made the visit last month on their own initiative.

The team comprised special United Nations investigator into arbitrary executions Philip Alson, into the right to health, Paul Hunt, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's representative on displaced people, Walter Kaelin, and the rapporteur on housing Miloon Kothari.

The report urged Israel to give full details of where its forces had dropped cluster munitions to speed the destruction of unexploded ordnance and minimise further civilian casualties.

Information provided so far to Lebanese authorities was ''inadequate and largely unhelpful,'' it said.

At the same time, the militant group Hizbollah should affirm that it is bound by international humanitarian law and renounce the targeting of civilians, the report said.

A number of human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have already accused both sides in the Lebanese conflict of war crimes.

The mission by the four envoys was separate from a commission of inquiry set up by the Human Rights Council, the UN's top human rights watchdog, which is now in the region investigating allegations war crimes were committed.

Reuters SP GC2123