Israel pressed on cluster targets

Up to 40% of cluster munitions in Lebanon did not explode

The UN has urged Israel to say exactly where it fired cluster bombs during its recent bombardment of south Lebanon.

Humanitarian co-ordinator David Shearer says Israel's failure to provide the co-ordinates has hampered a clear-up effort that could take many months.

An average of three people are killed or wounded a day by cluster munitions since the fighting ended on 14 August.

Thousands of cluster bomblets landed in farms and villages, some 30-40% of which failed to explode at the time.

It seems to me extraordinary they were fired in the last hours of the war where civilian populations were known to be going UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator David Shearer

Israel denies using the munitions illegally against civilian targets during the conflict.

But Mr Shearer said Israel has yet to explain why 90% of its cluster munitions were fired in the last days of the conflict, as UN members were finalising a ceasefire resolution.

"We know these munitions have a failure rate and it seems to me extraordinary that they were fired off in the last hours of the war into areas where civilian populations were known to be going," Mr Shearer told a news conference in Beirut.

"For a humanitarian person, it defies belief that this would happen."

Economic impact

At least 350,000 unexploded bomblets litter southern Lebanon, the UN says, only 17,000 of which have so far been cleared, mostly from villages, schools and playing areas.

Israel denies firing the weapons at non-military targets

At least 15 people including a child have been killed and 83 others wounded, 23 of them children, the UN says.

UN demining teams in south Lebanon say the Israeli military has supplied maps of cluster bomb strikes but they are not detailed enough to be of use.

Mr Shearer said the economic impact of unexploded cluster munitions would also be severe, as farmers are unable to utilise their land in a region which depends on agriculture for 70% of its income.

Human rights groups have criticised both Israel and Hezbollah for targeting civilians indiscriminately in the five-week conflict, which was sparked when Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.