Civilian Casualties
Apparently Chief of Staff Dan Halutz at one time demanded that Bint Jbeil be "wipe out from the air " but the demand was rejected by the defence minister. The town was however subjected to intensive artillery shelling throughout the war and the destruction of buildings and other civilian infrastructure was widespread. Israeli journalist Ron Ben Yishai visited Bint Jbeil after the war and observed that "only several houses in the big town are still standing." According to data from UNDP 2,512 housing units in the Bint Jbeil district were destroyed and another 1,908 were damaged. Fully 14,799 buildings were "impacted", representing 87 percent of all buildings in the district.
According to Lebanese sources in Aynata 27 civilians were killed during the battle while 18 civilians were killed in Bint Jbeil. The Lebanese Government prepared a report for the UN Human Rights Council about what it termed "collective massacres" committed by the Israeli army in the 2006 war. The list contained three incidents concerning civilian victims in the village of Aytaroun:
- 12 July Houses of Ali and Hassan Al-Akhrass (11 killed)
- 17 July Houses of Mohammed and Hassan Awada (13 killed)
- 19 Jul Convoy fleeing village (4 killed)
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Bint Jbeil