Amnesty International accused both Israel and Hezbollah on Wednesday of committing war crimes during the Second Lebanon War last summer, saying both were guilty of indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas.

In its annual global human rights report, released Wednesday, the organization said IDF troops and Hezbollah "committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes."

"In particular, Israeli forces carried out indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on a large scale," the report continued. "Israeli forces also appear to have carried out direct attacks on civilian infrastructure intended to inflict a form of collective punishment on Lebanon's people, in order to induce them and the Lebanese government to turn against Hezbollah, as well as to cause harm to Hezbollah's military capability."

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"Hezbollah's rocket attacks on northern Israel amounted to deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, as well as indiscriminate attacks," said the report. "Its attacks also violated other rules of international humanitarian law, including the prohibition on reprisal attacks on the civilian population"

Amnesty also slammed Israel for launching "hundreds of thousands" of cluster bombs, which it said contained up to 4 million bomblets, into southern Lebanon during the final days of the war, after the terms of a cease-fire had already been agreed.

"The million or so unexploded bomblets that were left continued to kill and maim civilians long after the end of the war," said the report. "Some 200 people, including tens of children, had been killed or injured by these bomblets and newly laid mines by the end of the year."

The group said at least 20 people were killed by the cluster bomblets after the conflict had already come to an end.

The report accused Israel of failing to provide detailed maps of the exact locations where its forces launched cluster bombs to the UN bodies in charge of clearing unexploded ordnance, despite what Amnesty called repeated requests that it do so.

The international human rights organization also slammed the actions of IDF troops and settlers in the territories, saying some 650 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers in 2006- half of them unarmed civilians, including roughly 120 children.

According to Amnesty, this figure represented a threefold increase compared to 2005. The report said 21 Israeli civilians were killed in Palestinian terror attacks, the lowest level since the beginning of the second intifada in 2000.

The report added that number of settler attacks on Palestinian farmers in the West Bank decreased following a High Court of Justice ruling in June demanding that the IDF and police protect the farmers, but have nonetheless continued.

At times, the report said, security forces were present at the scene but did not intervene.

"Investigations and prosecutions relating to such abuses [by both soldiers and settlers] were rare and usually only occurred when the abuses were exposed by human rights organizations and the media," said the report.

"Trials of Palestinians before military courts often did not meet international fair trial standards, with allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees inadequately investigated," added the report.

According to Amnesty, more than 700 Palestinians were being held in administrative attention at the end of the year.

In response to the report, the IDF Spokesperson's Office issued a statement saying it is "obligated to defend Israel and its citizens."

In the statement, the IDF maintains its holds "great respect for Amnesty International for its actions in promoting the issue of human rights and does not intend to contest what is written in the report."

However, the army also said that it does not agree with the allegations in the report, calling them "inaccurate."

The statement also harshly criticized the organization for being unprofessional, saying the organization routinely compares "terrorist groups who indiscriminately target civilians to a democratic country acting within the legal framework, fulfilling the right to defend its land, sovereignty, and citizens."