Amnesty said it sent Israeli authorities questions in late June about the destruction but had not received a response.
The group said its analysis covered from Oct 1 of last year – around the start of Israel’s ground offensive – until late January of this year, and showed “more than 10,000 structures were heavily damaged or destroyed during that time”.
It noted that “much of the destruction took place after Nov 27”, when the truce took effect.
“Israeli forces used manually laid explosives and bulldozers to devastate civilian structures, including homes, mosques, cemeteries, roads, parks and soccer pitches, across 24 municipalities,” it said.
The rights group said it used verified videos, photographs and satellite imagery to investigate the destruction.
“In some videos, soldiers filmed themselves celebrating the destruction by singing and cheering,” it said.
It added that much of the destruction was done “in apparent absence of imperative military necessity and in violation” of international humanitarian law.
Amnesty noted that “the previous use of a civilian building by a party to the conflict does not automatically render it a military objective”.
In March, the World Bank put the war’s total economic cost on Lebanon at US$14 billion, including US$6.8 billion in damage to physical structures.
Authorities in cash-strapped Lebanon have yet to launch reconstruction efforts, and are hoping for international support, particularly from Gulf countries.
Source: CNA
