Report: Children paying for Middle East violence

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Children are "increasingly bearing the brunt" of violence between Israelis and Palestinians and are dying in ever-greater numbers, a report released Monday by Amnesty International concluded.

"Enough of unacceptable reasons and excuses," the report said. "Children are increasingly bearing the brunt of this conflict. Both the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian armed groups show an utter disregard for the lives of children and other civilians."

The report, called "Killing the Future: Children in the Line of Fire," said more than 250 Palestinian and 72 Israeli children have been killed over the past 23 months.

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"Respect for human life must be restored," the report said. "Only a new mindset among Israelis and Palestinians can prevent the killing of more children."

The majority of Palestinian children have been killed "when members of the IDF responded to demonstrations and stone-throwing incidents with unlawful and excessive use of lethal force," the report said. "Eighty Palestinian children were killed by the IDF in the first three months of the intifada alone."

Israeli children have been killed in Palestinian attacks in Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza, the report said.

"About 70 percent of the victims were killed by Palestinian suicide bombings and others were killed in shootings and other bomb attacks on cars or public buses," the report said. "In the last 18 months there has been a marked increase in attacks on Israeli civilians and an increasingly high number of victims have been children."

In the first seven months of 2002 alone, it noted, Palestinian armed groups killed 36 Israeli children.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority "must act swiftly and firmly to investigate the killing of each and every child and ensure that all those responsible for such crimes are brought to justice," Amnesty International said

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