Days of Palestine, Jerusalem –A leading Israeli human rights group accused Israeli government of planning to kill civilians in Gaza Strip.
B’Tselem has accused the Israeli government of planning to kill the civilians during the 51-day war took place against the coastal enclave last summer.
In a reported on the issue, B’Tselem found that the killing of Palestinian civilians during the war was not a mistake committed by the Israeli troops on the ground. It is rather a “result of a policy formulated by government officials and the senior military command.”
B’Tselem investigated 70 incidents for the purpose of reaching the findings whether the Israeli authorities violated the International Human Rights Law (IHL) in the war.
In each of the incidents, the group said, at least three people were killed while inside their home. “A total of 606 Palestinians were killed in such incidents, the vast majority of whom took no part in the fighting: more than 70 per cent were either under 18, over 60 or women,” B’Tselem said.
An examination of these cases, it pointed out, “indicates that, at least in some cases, the military’s actions ran contrary to IHL provisions and, in other cases, there is grave concern that they did so.”
The group gave an example for the cases the massacre of the Kaware’ family. “On the first day of the fighting, the military attacked the Kaware’ family home. The house collapsed. Nine people, including five children aged 7 to 14, were killed. This was just the first of dozens of air, sea and ground strikes,” it said.
About the Israeli pretext that Hamas hide behind civilians, B’Tselem said: “True, Hamas and other organisations operating in the Gaza Strip do not abide by IHL… The principle that IHL violations committed by one party do not release the other party from its obligations toward the civilian population and civilian objects.”
During the 51-day Israeli savage war on Gaza last summer, which included an incursion by ground forces, the Israeli military launched strikes from the air, sea and land against thousands of targets.
Israeli occupation killed more than 2,260, including hundreds of children, women and elderly. It also wounded over 11,000 others and destroyed more than 18,000 homes and more than 100,000 Palestinians were rendered homeless.
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