Israel has been accused of killing hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians and destroying thousands of houses in their recent offensive along the Gaza strip.
The first in-depth human rights report on the three-week conflict in Gaza said Israel’s attacks amounted to war crimes.
Amnesty International first accused Israel of breaching the laws of war shortly after the fighting ended on January 18.
And it said “disturbing questions” remain about why high-precision weapons “killed so many children and other civilians”.
The group called on Israel to publicly pledge not to use artillery, white phosphorus and other imprecise weapons in densely populated areas.
And it urged Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers to stop rocket fire against Israeli civilians.
Remnants of an Israeli airstrike
In addition, Amnesty accused Israeli forces of using Palestinians as “human shields”, and regularly denying civilians from getting medical care and humanitarian aid.
The pattern of attacks and the high number of civilian casualties “showed elements of reckless conduct, disregard for civilian lives and property and a consistent failure to distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian objects”, the 117-page report read
More than 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 900 civilians, were killed during the offensive, according to Gaza health officials and human rights groups.
Israel said the death toll closer to 1,100 and says the vast majority of the dead were militants, though it has refused requests to provide a list of the dead.
Amnesty found some 300 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians were among the dead.
Amnesty International’s report was based on physical evidence and testimony gathered from dozens of attack sites in Gaza and southern Israel during and after the war.
Tags: Amnesty International, Gaza, Israel, Israeli forces, killed and injured people, Palestinians, war crimes
No comments:
Post a Comment