I'll give props to Kofi... he is a master in the art of how to make things seem more significant and unsettling than they really are (emphasis mine):

"While Hezbollah's actions are deplorable, and Israel has a right to defend itself, the excessive use of force is to be condemned," he told the Security Council.

Israel must make "a far greater and more credible effort ... to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure," he said.

Annan said the number of civilians affected by the conflict is now at 500,000, but he added that likely could increase. He based that estimate on information provided by a three-member U.N. team that visited the region and his own contacts.

What qualifies as being affected?  I can definitely understand counting casualties... but if we were talking half a million wounded or dead... they would use those specific words.  They wouldn't simply say affected.  After all, wounded and dead makes a much stronger punch in the headlines than the rather mundane "affected".  You only use affected when you want to artificially inflate the number of people, because you want the number to make the punch in the headline.

So how does one become affected?  What if a bombed out road forced someone to take a detour into work.  Does that count?  Does someone traumatized when they hear about a co-worker's second cousin being shot count?  I'm not trying to make light of the terrible cost of this conflict... but let's get the cost right.  I think we can all agree that the status quo before Israel took their actions wasn't going to cut it anymore either.  So if the goal is to consider the cost of Hezbollah getting away with murder, and Israel defending itself... we need to make sure we're taking the right statistics to the register.