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A Palestinian woman inspects her damaged house in the central Gaza Strip - Source: Reuters -
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Amnesty International said Israel inflicted wanton destruction
in the Gaza Strip in attacks that often targeted Palestinian
civilians during an offensive in December and January in the
Hamas-run enclave.
The London-based rights group, in a 117-page report on the 22 days
of fighting, also criticised the Islamist movement Hamas for rocket
attacks on Israel, which it called war crimes.
Among other conclusions, Amnesty said it found no evidence to
support Israeli claims that Gaza guerrillas deliberately used
civilians as human shields, but it did, however, cite evidence that
Israeli troops put children and other civilians in harm's way by
forcing them to remain in homes taken over by soldiers.
Amnesty International said some 1,400 Palestinians were killed in
Israel's Operation Cast Lead, including 300 children and hundreds
of innocent civilians, a figure broadly in line with those from the
Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza and the independent Palestinian
Centre for Human Rights.
The Israeli military put the Palestinian death toll at 1,166 of
whom 295 were civilians.
Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians, during
the offensive Israel launched with the declared aim of curtailing
cross-border rocket attacks.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said that in the Amnesty
report, things presented as facts are untrue and have no connection
to reality.
"The report is tendentious and completely ignores the fact that for
eight years Hamas carried out terror and crime against the
residents of Israel," he said in a statement.
Accusing Israel of breaching laws of war, Amnesty said: "Much of
the destruction was wanton and deliberate, and was carried out in a
manner and circumstances which indicated that it could not be
justified on grounds of military necessity."
Commenting on Amnesty's allegations, the Israeli military said it
operated in accordance with international law.
It said the report ignored efforts made by the Israel Defence
Forces to minimise, as much as possible, harm to
non-combatants.
"In many cases, the Israel Defence Forces exercised measures of
caution, including warning the civilian population before an
attack," the military said.
"The Israel Defence Forces directed its attack only against
military targets."
A Hamas spokesman said the Amnesty report did not place enough
emphasis on crimes committed by Israel.
"This report equates between the aggressor and the victim and
ignores international laws that guarantee resistance against
occupation," the spokesman said.
UN inquiry
Israel and Hamas have both rejected accusations of war crimes
during the Gaza fighting. Israel has refused to cooperate with a
United Nations inquiry that is now gathering evidence, accusing the
investigators of prejudice against it.
Amnesty said although rockets fired by Palestinian militants from
the Gaza Strip rarely cause casualties, their use was
indiscriminate and hence unlawful under international law.
The rockets often sow fear and panic.
It also accused Hamas and other armed groups of endangering the
lives of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza by firing
rockets and locating military equipment near homes.
The report however dismissed Israeli claims that Hamas had used
Palestinian civilians as human shields.
Amnesty said it found no evidence that Hamas or other armed groups
forced residents to stay in or around buildings used by fighters,
or that fighters prevented residents from leaving buildings or
areas which had been commandeered by militants.
But the report said in several cases Israeli soldiers used
Palestinian civilians, including children, as human shields,
endangering their lives by forcing them to remain in or near houses
which they took over and used as military positions.
