As Israel's onslaught in Lebanon enters its third week, officials and humanitarian organisations raise concerns that more civilians could be killed in the offensive that has so far claimed the lives of more than 380 people.
More than half of the casualties at the Beirut Government University Hospital are children of 15 years of age or less, according to hospital records.
"This is worse than during the Lebanese civil war," Bilal Masri, assistant director of the hospital told IPS earlier this week, adding that he believed the reason why so many children were becoming casualties is because of the "widespread and indiscriminate nature of the bombings" and because they "are least able to run away when the bombings commence."
The United Nations said it fears Israel's using cluster bombs as part of its bombardment in Lebanon, as allegations of attacks using phosphorous bombs and chemical weapons were under investigation by Lebanese authorities.
"We have expressed our concern regarding the use of cluster munitions," Farhan Haq, a UN spokesperson in New York, told The Daily Star.
The Daily Star said it was informed by a senior official within the Lebanese Army that the military issued "warnings to citizens in the places bombed by Israel not to get near or touch suspicious bodies, which might be unexploded cluster bombs."
Officials confirmed Israel's use of cluster bombs in several areas in the South, including the towns of Blida, Hebbariyeh and Kfarhamam.
The Israeli army denied using banned weapons, but the Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirmed its use of cluster bombs in Lebanon.
HRW issued a statement Monday, saying:
"Israel has used artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon ... Researchers on the ground in Lebanon confirmed that a cluster munitions attack on the village of Blida on July 19 killed one and wounded at least 12 civilians, including seven children. Human Rights Watch researchers also photographed cluster munitions in the arsenal of Israeli artillery teams on the Israel-Lebanon border."
Attached with the HRW statement were some photos from the Israeli side of the border that showed the ordnance.
Kenneth Roth, the executive director of HRW stated that: "cluster munitions are unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians ... They should never be used in populated areas."
Also eyewitnesses interviewed by HRW confirmed the organisation's statement.
"Israel fired several artillery-fired cluster munitions at Blida at around 3 p.m. on July 19. The witnesses described how the artillery shells dropped hundreds of cluster submunitions on the village. They clearly described the submunitions as smaller projectiles that emerged from larger shells."
Lebanese authorities are investigating reports that Israel has also used phosphorous munitions in its attacks.
The Lebanese Minister of Health has warned earlier that Lebanese children who got hurt in Israeli attacks are suffering from the impact of white phosphorus.
Same allegations were made by the Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.
Investigations are underway to determine what caused the death of eight Lebanese found in the Southern town of Rmeileh.
Mario Aoun, head of Lebanon's doctors' syndicate, told The Daily Star, investigators started the probe after "suspicious" bodies were found following one of the Israeli attacks.
Samples from the eight bodies found "are currently being analyzed at the American University of Science and Technology," Aoun said, suggesting that suspicions chemical weapons may have been used, but "nothing is certain."
"The causes of their deaths are not clear. The bodies are completely black, yet they are not burned. There are no wounds, no internal hemorrhaging and their muscles and hair are intact," he added.
The syndicate head said laboratory results would take two weeks, but "even then, I don't believe we have the proper technology to determine if chemical weapons were used."
Security sources in the South also said that investigations are being conducted to determine weaponry used during Israel's attacks along the border.
Source: AlJazeera
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