Human Rights Watch Accuses Israeli Military Of 'Apparent War Crimes' During May Fighting
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday accused Israel's military of amounting to war crimes during its 11-day attacks against Palestinian militant groups on the Gaza strip in May.
HRW investigated three Israeli strikes that killed 62 Palestinian civilians. It concluded that “there were no evident military targets in the vicinity” of the attacks.
Gerry Simpson, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch, said Israeli authorities have consistently failed to investigate alleged war crimes, which “underscores the importance of the International Criminal Court’s inquiry.”
“Israeli forces carried out attacks in Gaza in May that devastated entire families without any apparent military target nearby,” Simpson said.
According to AP News, the war erupted on May 10 after Hamas, a militant Palestinian group, fired over 4,000 rockets and mortars toward Israel in protest against its heavy-handed policing of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. These attacks were also in protest of the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers in a nearby neighborhood.
Around 260 people were killed in Gaza, including at least 67 children and 39 women, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In Israel, twelve civilians, including two children and one soldier, were killed.
The Tuesday report called on the United States to “condition security assistance” to Israel by taking “concrete and verifiable actions” to comply with international human rights law and to investigate past abuses.
The report also accused Palestinians of committing unlawful attacks, launching over 4,000 unguided rockets and mortars at Israeli population centers.
However, the international human rights organization focused solely on Israeli actions and said it would conduct a separate report on Palestinian militant groups in August.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.