ISRAELI SOLDIERS shot dead 11 unarmed Palestinian civilians carrying white flags during Israel’s offensive in Gaza earlier this year, according to a report from Human Rights Watch, which said Israel had failed to investigate the killings adequately.
The deaths – including those of five women and four children – took place in seven separate incidents across Gaza in areas controlled by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), where there was no fighting and no Palestinian fighters were nearby.
Human Rights Watch, a New-York-based organisation, which yesterday published White Flag Deaths: Killings of Palestinian Civilians during Operation Cast Lead, said it informed the Israeli military of the cases in February. But they were not examined in an IDF internal investigation into the conduct of its forces, which concluded that they "operated in accordance with international law". The group says at least three witnesses confirmed the details in each of the seven separate shootings.
Included among the cases is one in Khuza’a, close to the fence surrounding Gaza. Rawiya al-Najjar (47) was shot dead and her relative Jasmin al-Najjar (23) was wounded while the two women were attempting to escape an attack on the village that included the use of white phosphorus and the bulldozing of houses.
Three other incidents occurred around the northern Gaza village of al-Atatra, which had previously seen fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters. By the time of the shootings, however, the fighting had stopped, and in each case the civilians were visible, unarmed, and displaying white flags, the report says.
In one case, the civilians were walking in a group on a street. In another, they were driving slowly on tractors and in cars, trying to leave the area. Human Rights Watch said it could find no evidence of misuse of white flags or the use of civilians as human shields in the cases detailed.
The report follows the publication last month of anonymous testimonies by more than two dozen soldiers who fought in Gaza which accused the IDF of an atmosphere of permissive violence against civilians. – ( Guardianservice)