Amnesty said not only were food shops purposely destroyed by shelling and air attacks, but aid convoys were deliberately blocked and hospitals and public utilities like water and power plants were put out of action to force people to flee.
"The evidence strongly suggests that the extensive destruction of public works, power systems, civilian homes and industry was deliberate and an integral part of the military strategy rather than collateral damage," Amnesty said in a report called ‘Israel/Lebanon: Deliberate destruction or 'collateral damage.'
Israel says it did not target civilians and had warned non-combatants to leave south Lebanon. It also accused Hezbollah of launching rockets from civilian areas.
Amnesty called for the United Nations to quickly set up an independent inquiry into breaches of international humanitarian law it said which were committed by both sides.
"In the context of the attacks on Lebanon's infrastructure, Israel has specifically violated the prohibition on indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks," it said.
"Israel may also have violated other prohibitions, including that on direct attacks against civilian objects. These violations are war crimes," Amnesty added.
In its report Amnesty said that between July 12 and August 14, when a fragile UN brokered ceasefire came into force, Israel carried out more than 7,000 air attacks against 7,000 targets.
At the same time the Israeli Navy mounted a further 2,500 bombardments while long-range artillery fired an untold number of shells into southern Lebanon.
Amnesty said "Israeli government spokespeople have insisted that they were targeting Hezbollah positions and support facilities, and that damage to civilian infrastructure was incidental or resulted from Hezbollah using the civilian population as a human shield," Amnesty said.
“However, the pattern and scope of the attacks, as well as the number of civilian casualties and the amount of damage sustained, makes the justification ring hollow," it said.