Qana Death Toll Revised Down to 28

Report revises death toll in Qana from over 50 to 28

By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday revised the number of fatalities in the Israeli air strike on the Lebanese village of Qana from over 50 to 28.

HRW said that the figures, based on data released by the Lebanese Red Cross and a Tyre hospital, included 16 children under the age of 16. HRW said that no additional bodies were found under the debris.

On Wednesday, HRW listed the names of 28 known dead from the attack and said that at least 13 others were missing and might still be buried under the rubble. The discrepancy was attributed in part to an assumption that only nine of those sheltering in the building's basement survived. However, at least 22 apparently escaped, HRW said.

According to HRW, Israel's contention that Hezbollah men were hiding among civilians did not justify its "systematic failure" to distinguish between civilians and combatants.

"In some instances, Israeli forces appear to have deliberately targeted civilians," HRW said in a statement accompanying a report released yesterday. "The failures cannot be dismissed as mere accidents and cannot be blamed on wrongful Hezbollah practices. In some cases, these attacks constitute war crimes."

At least 646 Lebanese, mostly civilians, have died in Israeli strikes.

HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth said that in numerous cases of Lebanese civilian deaths investigated by the rights group, the location of Hezbollah members or their weapons stores appeared to have no bearing on the areas attacked.

HRW also said Israel appears to have deliberately bombed civilians in Lebanon, and some of its strikes constitute war crimes

The comments came as the Israel Defense Forces released the results of its probe into the air strike on a building in the south Lebanese village of Qana on Sunday, in which dozens of people were killed. The IDF admitted that it made a mistake, but charged that Hezbollah guerrillas used civilians as shields for their rocket attacks