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Human Rights Watch: Israeli Attacks 'War Crimes'

31 July 2006

Red Cross paramedics carry the body of Lebanese woman recovered from the rubble of a demolished building that was struck by Israeli war planes at Qana near the southern Lebanon city of Tyre, Sunday, July 30, 2006
Red Cross paramedics carry the body of Lebanese woman recovered from the rubble of a demolished building that was struck by Israeli war planes at Qana near the southern Lebanon city of Tyre, Sunday, July 30, 2006
A New York-based human rights group says the Israeli military is fully responsible for its air strike that killed nearly 60 civilians in Lebanon, calling such attacks a "war crime."

In a statement released in Beirut Sunday, Human Rights Watch said Sunday's air strike in the village of Qana was a product of an indiscriminate bombing campaign amounting to a war crime.

The statement calls on the U.N. secretary-general to establish an International Commission of Inquiry to investigate violations of international humanitarian law during the conflict.

Meanwhile, the Organization of the Islamic Conference is preparing for an emergency meeting this week on the need for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East and deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force.

Civil Defence workers carry a blanket with bodies of two children recovered from under the rubble of a demolished building that was struck by Israeli war plane missiles at the village of Qana, July 30, 2006
Civil Defence workers carry a blanket with bodies of two children recovered from under the rubble of a demolished building that was struck by Israeli war plane missiles at the village of Qana, July 30, 2006
The O.I.C., which includes almost all of the world's Muslim-majority nations, has called members of its executive committee to a one-day session Thursday in Putrajaya, Malaysia's administrative capital.

The executive committee includes Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Senegal, Yemen, Turkey and Azerbaijan.  The Jakarta Post says Iran, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan and other states are likely to send high-level delegates to the meeting.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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