A/HRC/2/7
page 31
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/CompArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506.L3306396.00.html.)
54
For international humanitarian law prohibitions on destryong civilian property, including
homes, see articles 53 and 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and article 52 of Additional
Protocol I.
55
Lebanon crisis: Service Availability Assessment, Ministry of Health and WHO,
29 August 2006. For international humanitarian law prohibitions on attacking civilian hospitals,
see e.g. article 18 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, article 12 of Additional Protocol I and
Rule 28 in the ICRC Study.
56
During the evening of 23 July, for example, two Lebanese Red Cross (LRC) ambulances
carrying six wounded to Tebnine Governmental Hospital were hit by Israeli aircraft in two
separate attacks, wounding six LRC volunteers (ICRC press release, 29 August 2006). On
11 August, an LRC ambulance was hit directly by two projectiles, injuring two LRC volunteers;
no hostilities were taking place in the vicinity at the time. That night, a convoy of hundreds of
cars occupied mostly by civilians fleeing the area of Marjayoun came under fire from Israeli
aircraft; one LRC first aid volunteer, Mikhael Jbayieh, was killed in the attack. LRC continued
its work, taking six dead and 32 wounded to nearby hospitals (ICRC press release,
12 August 2006). For international humanitarian law prohibitions on attacking medical
transports, see e.g. articles 21 and 22 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, article 21 of Additional
Protocol I and Rule 29 in the ICRC Study, see note 21 above.
57
Common article 3 to the Geneva Convention (preventing “violence to life and person, in
particular murder of all kinds” of those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or
any other cause”). Common article 3 is considered by the International Court of Justice to
“constitute a minimum yardstick … which, in the Court’s opinion, reflects what the Court
in 1949 called ‘elementary conditions of humanity’”. Military and Paramilitary Activities in and
against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America). I.C.J. Reports 1986, para. 218. See
also ICRC Study, note 21 above, p. 312. (“The prohibition on killing civilians and persons hors
de combat is set forth in numerous military manuals. It is also contained in the legislation of a
large number of States. This prohibition has been upheld extensively in national and
international case-law. Furthermore, it is supported by official statements and other practice.”)
58
See Human Rights Watch, Fatal Strikes, pp. 37-38.
59
According to Lebanon, Israel destroyed 107 bridges and overpasses and 137 roads over an
area of 445,000 m2. Government of Lebanon, “Setting the stage…”, see note 42 above, p. 12,
available at
http://www.lebanonundersiege.gov.lb/Documents/StockholmConferenceDocument.pdf.
60
ICRC Study, see note 21 above, Rule 8; Additional Protocol I, art. 52 (2). Israel agrees
that this definition is “generally accepted”. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem,
“Responding to Hizbullah attacks from Lebanon: Issues of proportionality, Legal
Background”, 25 July 2006.
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