The UN's top humanitarian official denounced Israel's use of cluster bombs in the last days of the Lebanon conflict as "immoral" and said that thousands of civilians were at risk from unexploded munitions.
UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said on Wednesday that UN teams had identified "359 separate cluster bomb strike locations that are contaminated with as many 100,000 unexploded bomblets" dropped by Israeli forces fighting against Hezbollah guerrillas.
Egeland, employing unusually strong language, expressed outrage at the findings that showed that most of the cluster bombs were dropped in the final three days of the war when negotiations on a truce were at a pivotal stage.
"What's shocking and I would say completely immoral is that 90 percent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict when we knew there would be a resolution, when we knew there would be an end," he said.
"Every day, people are maimed, wounded and are killed by these ordnances," the UN relief coordinator said.
He said the bombs may have been manufactured "in a number of places," including the US.
"Those places who made those bombs should have a serious talk with Israel on the use of such bombs that are making our lives so miserable trying to help the Lebanese people," he said.
"I hope the US will talk to the Israelis on that, because it is an outrage that we have 100,000 bombs among where children, women, shopkeepers and farmers are now going to tread," Egeland said.
He said that he had not been able to get an explanation from the Israelis so far.
Egeland said he would launch an appeal for more money for mine clearance when he attended a conference in Stockholm yesterday on Lebanon's reconstruction.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International yesterday called on the EU to ensure that alleged human rights violations in Lebanon and Israel are properly investigated.
In a statement, the human rights group urged the EU foreign ministers meeting in Finland this weekend "to actively support the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in establishing a comprehensive investigation."
Last week Amnesty accused Israel of war crimes, saying it broke international law by deliberately destroying Lebanon's civilian infrastructure during its recent war with Hezbollah guerrillas.
Yesterday it said that attacks by Hezbollah on northern Israel were also violations of international humanitarian law.
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