The 51st Golani Battalion was left scarred by the traumatic experience in Bint Jbeil. Battalion 51 has a dark history in Lebanon, losing 9 men in three days in two incidents in October 1997.
[94] It had suffered 8 dead, including several officers, and 20 wounded. Many of the survivors suffered from shell-shock or post traumatic stress syndrome. Five years later some would still suffer from concentration problems, nightmares and impatience or finding it difficult to cope with their daily lives.
[95] Soldiers complained that their mental needs were ignored by their officers. Their battalion commander, Lt.-Col. Asor, was appointed commander on the Egoz unit. He was replaced by an officer from outside the Golani Brigade, who had no understanding for old Golani traditions. When the battalion commander did not show up at a memorial service for the eight Golani dead from the Lebanon war a rebellion broke out. About a hundred soldiers rose up and just walked out of the
Tze'elim training base outside Beer Sheva. This was one of the largest "revolts" in the history of the IDF.
[96] One of the leaders of the "Golani rebellion" was St.-Sgt. Shiran Amsili, the hero from the clash in the olive grove who received a medal for his part in the battle. He was sent to jail for two months for his involvement in the protest.
[97] Another 10 soldiers were sent to jail for one or two months and seven other soldiers were confined to their base for a month.
[96]
Civilian casualties
According to a newspaper report Chief of Staff Dan Halutz at one time demanded that Bint Jbeil be "wipe[d] out from the air " but the demand was rejected by the defence minister.
[98] The town was however subjected to intensive artillery shelling throughout the war and the destruction of buildings and other civilian infrastructure was widespread. Israeli journalist
Ron Ben Yishai visited Bint Jbeil after the war and observed that "only several houses in the big town are still standing."
[99] According to data from
UNDP 2,512 housing units in the Bint Jbeil district were destroyed and another 1,908 were damaged. Fully 14,799 buildings were "impacted", representing 87 percent of all buildings in the district.
[100]
According to Lebanese sources 27 civilians were killed in Aynata
[10] while 18 civilians were killed in Bint Jbeil.
[6] and 41 civilians were killed in Aytaroun.
[11] The Lebanese Government prepared a report for the UN Human Rights Council about what it termed "collective massacres" committed by the Israeli army in the 2006 war.
[101] The list contained three incidents concerning civilian victims in the village of Aytaroun:
- 12 July Houses of Ali and Hassan Al-Akhrass (11 killed)
- 17 July Houses of Mohammed and Hassan Awada (13 killed)
- 19 Jul Convoy fleeing village (4 killed)
Battle of Bint Jbeil - Wikipedia