A/HRC/2/8 page 6 II. GENERAL CONTEXT 6. The mission followed the war that took place from 12 July to 14 August 2006 between Hezbollah and Israel, following Hezbollah’s capture of soldiers in a raid across the border between Israel and Lebanon. During the 34 days of the war the Israeli forces launched more than 7,000 air attacks and 2,500 attacks by sea as well as heavy artillery shelling. The war has had farreaching effects on the Lebanese population. According to the Government of Lebanon, the war resulted in 1,189 killed (mostly civilians), 4,399 injured, 974,189 displaced and between 15,000 and 30,000 homes destroyed.1 7. On 11 August 2006, the Security Council adopted resolution 1701 (2006) in which the Council called for a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations. On the same day, the Human Rights Council, having convened a special session on the war, adopted resolution S-2/1, in which it called upon Israel to immediately stop military operations against the civilian population and civilian objects resulting in death and destruction and serious violations of human rights. It also decided to urgently establish and immediately dispatch a high-level commission of inquiry comprising eminent experts on human rights law and international humanitarian law, to assess and investigate, inter alia, the extent and impact of Israeli attacks on human life, property, critical infrastructure and the environment. The fighting continued after the adoption of the resolutions and even intensified up to the last moment, the cessation of hostilities taking effect on 14 August 2006. III. LEGAL FRAMEWORK RELATED TO THE RIGHT TO FOOD IN LEBANON 8. As the International Court of Justice has reaffirmed,2 both human rights law and, as lex specialis, international humanitarian law are applicable during armed conflicts and situations of occupation. These include the war in Lebanon, where all provisions of international human rights and humanitarian law protecting the right to food were applicable. It is important to note in that context that both Israel and Lebanon are parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the two main human rights instruments for the protection of the right to food, as well as to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. It is also important to note that while only Lebanon is a party to the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Additional I Protocol, adopted in 1977), most of its provisions that are relevant to the right to food are considered part of customary international law and are therefore binding on all States and all parties to a conflict, regardless of status and ratification.3 9. The right to food is primarily the right to be able to feed oneself through physical and economic access to food, as defined in general comment No. 12 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The right to food entails obligations of Governments towards their people, but also towards people living in other countries (see E/CN.4/2006/44, paras. 28-38). This is particularly true for States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including Israel and Lebanon that have undertaken to cooperate, without any territorial or jurisdictional limitations, to realize the right to food. In time of an armed conflict, the most important human rights obligation of Governments is the obligation to respect the right to food, which means refraining from restricting, inhibiting or preventing people’s access to food. As the right to food also includes access to clean, safe drinking water and irrigation water