Rights group, Lebanon differ on Qana toll

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The death toll from the Israeli bombing of a building in Qana in which civilians were taking shelter stands at 28, not more than 50 as originally reported by Lebanon's government and the Lebanese Red Cross, according to a Human Rights Watch report Wednesday.

However, the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Red Cross said they had confirmed 57 deaths and stood by their figures after the report was released.

"It's confirmed that there are 57 bodies," said Elias Diab, an official in the Lebanese Red Cross operations room in Beirut. "Twenty-seven of them are children."

Media outlets Wednesday continued to report that at least 57 civilians had died.

The discrepancy arises from the large number of people who had taken shelter from the bombardments in the three-story structure, which was crushed when it was hit in an airstrike Sunday, said the report by the New York-based watchdog group.

The report also said researchers who visited the Qana site found no evidence of recent Hezbollah military activity in the area and accused Israel of a "systematic failure" to distinguish between military and civilian targets in its bombing of Lebanon.

Witnesses in Qana told rescue workers that 63 people from two families had taken shelter in the building, and it was assumed that most remained buried in the rubble when the government released its initial toll estimate.

It appears many escaped because the final number of bodies recovered stands at 28, including 16 children younger than 12, said Peter Bouckaert, a Human Rights Watch researcher who visited the site.

But Asma Andraos, a government adviser, said the Health Ministry also stood by its estimate. "I think nobody knows. It's a guess."

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.