Global Policy Forum

By Rory McCarthy

Israel faced a stinging rebuke from the UN yesterday when the world body's humanitarian chief expressed shock at the "completely immoral" use of cluster bombs in Lebanon and Kofi Annan called for a rapid end to the conflict in Gaza.

Jan Egeland said civilians were facing "massive problems" returning home because of as many as 100,000 unexploded cluster bombs, most of which were dropped in the last days of the war.

"What's shocking - and I would say to me completely immoral - is that 90% of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," Mr Egeland said. "Every day people are maimed, wounded and are killed by these ordnance."

Earlier, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, called on Israel to end its closure of the Gaza Strip and to halt the fighting that has claimed the lives of more than 200 Palestinians in the past two months.

Yesterday Israeli troops killed eight Palestinians in air strikes and gun battles around the Shijaiyeh neighbourhood of Gaza City. One of the dead was a 14-year-old boy who was in a crowd watching the fighting. At least two others were militants, doctors said. The Israeli army said it found a large tunnel for smuggling that ran 150 metres towards a cargo crossing.

Israel's military incursions into Gaza have been overshadowed by the conflict in Lebanon. But Palestinian officials say more than half of those killed in the past two months have been civilians - among them 39 children killed in July alone.

"Over 200 Palestinians have been killed since the end of June. This must stop immediately," Mr Annan said, after meeting Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank. "I have made my feelings known in talks with Israeli officials. Beyond preserving life, we have to sustain life, the closure of Gaza must be lifted, the crossing points must be opened, not just to allow goods but to allow Palestinian exports out as well."

Crossing points into Gaza for cargo and pedestrians have been closed for long periods in recent months because of what the Israelis say are security concerns. Israel has defended its military operations in Gaza, saying it is trying to find a captured Israeli soldier and stop militants firing rockets into Israel.

Mr Annan's visit was also intended to reinforce the ceasefire that ended 34 days of conflict between Israel and Hizbullah. Yesterday, after meeting Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, he called on the Israeli government to end its air and sea blockade of Lebanon, which he said the Lebanese regarded as a "humiliation" and an "infringement of their sovereignty".

But Mr Olmert said Israel would not lift the blockade or withdraw its soldiers, who are still deployed in their thousands in southern Lebanon, until the UN ceasefire was fully implemented. A total of 15,000 Lebanese army soldiers and another 15,000 international troops are due to take up positions in southern Lebanon in the coming weeks as part of the agreement. In the meantime, Israel says it wants to stop Hizbullah rearming in the south.

Mr Olmert said he hoped the ceasefire agreement might be the "cornerstone" of a new relationship between Israel and Lebanon. But the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, said Lebanon "will be the last Arab country that could sign a peace agreement with Israel".

Negotiations appear to be under way to secure the release of two Israeli soldiers whose capture on July 12 triggered the Lebanon war. Mr Annan said he believed the two were alive, although he did not know what condition they were in.

In Beirut yesterday Muhammad Fneish, one of two Hizbullah ministers in the Lebanese cabinet, said the soldiers would only be freed in a prisoner exchange. "There should be an exchange through indirect negotiations," he said.

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