DUSHANBE , August 2, Asia-Plus - On August 1, print media of Uzbekistan published a statement by the “Zhakhon” news agency expressing assessment by the Uzbek public of latest developments in Lebanon , according to information from the Uzbek Embassy in Dushanbe .  

“Death of 60 civilians in the Israeli air strike in Qana demonstrates once again the necessity of putting end to the current fighting in Lebanon .”  “It is hard for international community to understand why children should answer by their lives for crimes of adults,” the statement points out.    

“Only cessation of fighting and negotiations between the Lebanon side and Israel may settle the ongoing conflict,” the statement stressed.   

We will recall that a human rights group says the Israeli air strike on Qana that killed 54 civilians, mostly children, is a "war crime".  Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) of treating southern Lebanon as a "free-fire zone".  It said the failure to distinguish between civilians and combatants could be judged as a war crime, and called for an UN probe into the conflict.

Israel has insisted that Hezbollah sheltered in Qana and used it as a base to fire rockets across the border.

But Human Rights Watch called on a UN commission to investigate whether serious violations of international law had taken place during the conflict.  "The Israeli military seems to consider anyone left in the area a combatant who is fair game for attack," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.  "Such consistent failure to distinguish combatants and civilians is a war crime."