A/HRC/2/8 page 8 not divert or obstruct the passage of humanitarian assistance. The deliberate impeding of humanitarian operations and targeting of personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in humanitarian assistance constitute war crimes.6 IV. MAIN FINDINGS AND CONCERNS RELATED TO THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WATER A. During the war 14. During the war, a combination of destruction of road and transport infrastructure and repeated denial of safe transit by the Israeli armed forces made it very difficult for humanitarian agencies to transport food and other relief, especially to the approximately 22,000 people left trapped in the area south of the Litani River, where there are 38 localities under the control of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). While the majority of the population fled their homes, those left behind were the elderly, the sick and the poor, including women and children. Amnesty International reported, for example, that more than 200 people trapped in the villages of Aitaroun and Bint Jbail, including women, children, and elderly and disabled people, were facing food shortages. The destruction of water infrastructure left thousands of people dependent on filthy water collected in ponds and ditches.7 For at least a week, no humanitarian organization was able to reach these villages.8 According to the High Relief Council, in Markaba, a village of about 10,000 habitants, 128 people were left stranded between 6 and 13 August, without food and water.9 UNIFIL also reported on several occasions that it was prevented from distributing food and undertaking other emergency work in its area of operations because Israel had denied consent. 15. On 7 August 2006, the Government of Israeli informed the United Nations agencies that any vehicle except those of UNIFIL travelling south of the Litani River within 5-30 km of the Israeli-Lebanese border could be attacked. As a consequence, the World Food Programme and other United Nations humanitarian agencies were forced to suspend all operations for the delivery of emergency assistance in the south. On the same day, an Israeli air strike destroyed the last remaining open crossing over the Litani River, effectively cutting off the southern port city of Tyre and the surrounding region, as the main Qasmiyeh road bridge had been destroyed by earlier air strikes. On 8 August 2006, Israeli military dropped leaflets warning that it would attack any vehicle travelling south of the Litani River on suspicion of “transporting rockets and arms for the terrorists”.10 This prevented not only the movement of humanitarian assistance vehicles, but also of trucks transporting agricultural produce to markets and distribution points. According to Human Rights Watch, on 18 July Israeli air strikes hit a convoy of the United Arab Emirates Red Crescent Society, destroying a vehicle containing rice, sugar and other food, and killing the driver.11 The destruction by the Israeli forces of hundreds of bridges and road networks impeded aid assistance convoys and will make reconstruction a long-term project. 16. The refusal of safe passage by the Israeli armed forces not only disrupted the humanitarian food aid; it also had often dramatic consequences for the population fleeing their bombed villages and for families trapped in the ruins of their houses. On 20 July 20, 23 persons, mostly from the Al-Ghanam-family, fled in a truck from their village of Marwaheen to the north. On the way they were hit by a shell from an Israeli boat. Minutes later an Israeli helicopter appeared in the sky and fired a missile into the burning truck. Only one person survived: a 4year-old girl, with severe burns over most of her body.12 Many of the families trapped under the