Amnesty says Israel's Gaza action breached laws of war

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL holds that Israel’s offensive on Gaza, launched without warning on December 27th last year, breached the laws of war. When ceasefires were imposed on January 18th, Amnesty says in a 117-page report published today, the “first comprehensive report” on the conflict, 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, had been killed, including 300 children.

Palestinians also violated international law by firing rockets indiscriminately into southern Israel killing three civilians and forcing many to flee the area.

The report, released in Jerusalem, argues that “Much of the destruction [in Gaza] was wanton and resulted from direct attacks on civilian objects, as well as indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilian objects” in violation of international law.

“Hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks carried out using high-precision weapons. Others, including women and children, were shot at short range when posing no threat to the lives of Israeli soldiers.”

Amnesty questions the misuse of high-precision weapons to kill children playing on rooftops or people sleeping their homes. Israel not only fired imprecise incendiary white phosphorus shells over and into densely populated residential areas, killing and wounding civilians and destroying property, but also, asserts Amnesty, denied that this substance was being used, delaying appropriate medical treatment for the injured. “Artillery in general and white phosphorus shells in particular should never be used in populated areas” and their use is unlawful, the report says. Amnesty says Israeli troops used Palestinians as “human shields” to provide protection while they occupied or searched buildings.

“The scale and intensity of the attacks were unprecedented, even in the context of increasingly lethal Israeli military campaigns in Gaza in previous years,” the report says. More people were killed and more damage was inflicted than in any earlier Israeli offensive.

Amnesty criticises Israel for failing to “establish any independent or impartial investigation into the conduct of their forces” and for refusing to co-operate with independent fact-finding missions. The organisation contrasts the Israeli attitude with that of Hamas, which rules Gaza and freely permits human rights organisations to conduct investigations into Israeli and Palestinian abuses.