By Amnesty International, 2014
The following is the "Introduction" to the fifty page Amnesty International report on human right violations in the Israeli war against the Palestinian population in Gaza Strip. The full report can be found here. This is the third war people of Gaza Strip have faced in 6 years. KN
Introduction
Israeli air strikes during Israel’s recent military operation in the Gaza Strip, Operation Protective Edge, targeted inhabited multistorey family homes. Whole families, including many women and children, were killed or injured by these targeted strikes and, in addition, there was extensive destruction of civilian property.
These attacks were carried out in the context of a 50-day conflict, from 8 July until 26 August, in which the scale of destruction, damage, death and injury to Palestinian civilians, homes and infrastructure was appalling. According to figures released by the United Nations, some 1,523 civilians, including 519 children, are among more than 2,192 Palestinians who died during the operation. By the time of the ceasefire on 26 August there were approximately 110,000 internally displaced persons living in emergency shelter and with host families. The UN estimated that about 18,000 housing units were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, leaving approximately 108,000 people homeless. A further 37,650 housing units were damaged.
At the same time, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups fired thousands of indiscriminate rockets and mortar rounds into civilian areas of Israel, killing six civilians, including one child.3 Dozens of other Israelis, including at least six children, were directly injured by rockets or shrapnel. A total of 66 soldiers were killed in the fighting.
Amnesty International has documented and is continuing to document serious violations of international humanitarian law, including unlawful killings and injuries to civilians and destruction of civilian property, both by Israel and by Hamas and Palestinian armed groups.
In this report Amnesty International examines targeted Israeli attacks carried out on inhabited civilian homes in the light of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law, specifically the rules on the conduct of hostilities. It does so by focusing on eight cases, in which targeted Israeli attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 111 people, of whom at least 104 were civilians, including entire families, and destroyed civilian homes. The cases were chosen for a variety of reasons, including the availability of witnesses, the clarity of the evidence and the number of civilians killed. They include two cases in which there were particularly high civilian casualties (at least 33 civilians killed in the bombing of the al-Dali building and 25 in the destruction of the Abu Jame’ family home).
In all the cases documented in this report, there was a failure to take necessary precautions to avoid excessive harm to civilians and civilian property, as required by international humanitarian law. In all cases, no prior warning was given to the civilian residents to allow them to escape.
In four of the cases (the attacks on the Abu Jame’ family home, the al-Dali building, the al- Bakri family home and the Abu Dahrouj family home), in which a total of at least 66 civilians were killed, Amnesty International has been able to identify a named individual who was an apparent member of an armed group. However, even if a fighter or a military objective was indeed present (or thought to have been present), the loss of civilian lives, injury to civilians
Israeli attacks on inhabited homes and damage to civilian objects appear disproportionate, that is, out of proportion to the likely military advantage of carrying out the attack, or otherwise indiscriminate. However, due to lack of information from the Israeli authorities, Amnesty International cannot be certain in any of these attacks what was being targeted. In cases where there is no military objective, an attack could violate the international humanitarian law prohibition of direct attacks on civilian objects and on civilians. Attacks directed at civilian objects or at civilians, or disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure civilians are war crimes. The fact that, in these eight cases which caused the deaths of at least 104 civilians, Israel has made no statement about who or what was being targeted, or even acknowledged that it carried out these particular attacks and the loss of civilian lives that they caused, is deeply worrying.
These attacks fit into a broader pattern. In addition to the cases detailed in this report, Amnesty International has documented more than 12 other targeted attacks that caused the deaths of civilians, including children, and destroyed all or part of inhabited home. Most appear to have been aerial attacks conducted by manned aircraft. Looking more widely at Israeli attacks of different kinds, including attacks during heavy fighting in areas such as al- Shuja’iyeh and Khuza’a, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem listed 72 homes destroyed in the Gaza Strip in whole or in part with families inside them up until 11 August 2014. This destruction killed 547 people, of whom 125 were women under the age of 60, 250 were minors, and 29 were people over the age of 60.
In all the cases described in this report and other similar ones during the conflict, the onus is on Israel to provide information concerning the attacks and their intended targets. Israel must also explain what precautions were taken to spare civilians in attacks that targeted military objectives but resulted in civilian deaths and injuries and destruction of civilian homes. The cases documented in this report, as well as other credible allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law, must be promptly, independently and impartially investigated, in accordance with international law and standards and, wherever there is sufficient admissible evidence, alleged perpetrators, be they military or civilian officials, must be brought to justice in proceedings that fully respect international fair trial standards. Civilian victims and their families should receive full reparation. In addition, it is important that, following investigations, the Israeli military should learn the lessons of this and previous conflicts and change its military doctrine and tactics for fighting in densely populated areas such as Gaza so as to ensure strict compliance with international humanitarian law, in particular the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution.
METHODOLOGY
Amnesty International has been unable to send a delegation of researchers to visit the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the conflict. The Israeli authorities have refused, up to the time of writing this report, to allow it and other international human rights monitors to enter the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing with Israel, despite the organization’s repeated requests since the beginning of the conflict to do so. The Egyptian authorities have also not granted Amnesty International permission to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, again despite the organization’s repeated requests to do so.
Amnesty International has consequently had to carry out research remotely, supported by two fieldworkers based in Gaza who were contracted to work with the organization for periods of several weeks. They travelled extensively within the Strip, visiting every site described in this briefing more than once, as soon as possible after the damage took place, interviewing victims and eyewitnesses of every case recorded and taking photos and videos of the sites. The organization consulted on the interpretation of photos and videos with military experts. It extensively reviewed relevant statements by the Israeli military and other official bodies, but they provide no indication as to whether any of the attacks in this report were directed at a particular military target. Amnesty International has therefore made considerable efforts to assess the military purpose, if any, of each attack. Amnesty International also studied relevant documentation produced by UN agencies, Palestinian, Israeli and other non- governmental organizations, local officials, media, and others who monitored the conflict, and consulted with them as needed.
Despite these efforts, the lack of access for Amnesty International’s researchers, as well as military and medical experts who would have accompanied them, has clearly hindered the work of Amnesty International, as it has hindered the work of other human rights organizations that have wished to document violations of international law in the Gaza Strip.
Medical evidence and evidence of weapons used, both in damaged buildings and elsewhere, help monitors to assess how, with what and why something was targeted, but they disappear quickly. Suffering from a great shortage of living space, residents of the Gaza Strip started almost immediately after the conflict, as after other recent conflicts, to clear up the rubble and use what can be salvaged to rebuild their homes. Fragments of munitions which would have shown what weapons were used have been carried off from the rubble of destroyed homes by civil defence workers, souvenir hunters and others.
Governments who wish to hide their violations of human rights from the outside world have frequently banned Amnesty International from accessing the places in which they have been committed. Although Amnesty International researchers have consistently been able to access Israel and the occupied West Bank, they have not been allowed by the Israeli government to enter the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing since June 2012. The UN Fact- Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, which was set up by the UN Human Rights Council and reported in 2009 on violations of international law by all sides during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip criticized this policy stating: “The Mission is of the view that the presence of international human rights monitors would have been of great assistance in not only investigating and reporting but also in the publicizing of events on the ground.”6 It added: “The presence of international human rights monitors is likely to have a deterrent effect, dissuading parties to a conflict from engaging in violations of international law.”
Amnesty International sent its findings to the Israeli authorities on 8 October 2014, requesting any relevant information that could be provided on each of the cases in this report. It sent a memorandum to the three Israeli mechanisms investigating aspects of Operation Protective Edge – the State Comptroller, the army’s General Staff Mechanism for Fact-Finding Assessments, and the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee – as well as to the army’s Chief of General Staff, the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Defense, Justice and Foreign Affairs. It asked for explanations of why each of these attacks was carried out; who or what was being targeted; what means of attack were selected; what precautions were taken to minimize the risk of harm to civilians and civilian objects; and whether any investigation had taken place or was ongoing. It had not received a response before this report was finalized, but any response received will be reflected in future publications.
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Left, Palestinian men burying members of a family who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza this summer. Right, Israeli residents took cover from a rocket attack by Palestinian militants. A 50-day war was fought before a cease-fire was reached in August. Photos: Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times; Gil Cohen Magen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The following is the "Introduction" to the fifty page Amnesty International report on human right violations in the Israeli war against the Palestinian population in Gaza Strip. The full report can be found here. This is the third war people of Gaza Strip have faced in 6 years. KN
* * *
Introduction
Israeli air strikes during Israel’s recent military operation in the Gaza Strip, Operation Protective Edge, targeted inhabited multistorey family homes. Whole families, including many women and children, were killed or injured by these targeted strikes and, in addition, there was extensive destruction of civilian property.
These attacks were carried out in the context of a 50-day conflict, from 8 July until 26 August, in which the scale of destruction, damage, death and injury to Palestinian civilians, homes and infrastructure was appalling. According to figures released by the United Nations, some 1,523 civilians, including 519 children, are among more than 2,192 Palestinians who died during the operation. By the time of the ceasefire on 26 August there were approximately 110,000 internally displaced persons living in emergency shelter and with host families. The UN estimated that about 18,000 housing units were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, leaving approximately 108,000 people homeless. A further 37,650 housing units were damaged.
At the same time, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups fired thousands of indiscriminate rockets and mortar rounds into civilian areas of Israel, killing six civilians, including one child.3 Dozens of other Israelis, including at least six children, were directly injured by rockets or shrapnel. A total of 66 soldiers were killed in the fighting.
Amnesty International has documented and is continuing to document serious violations of international humanitarian law, including unlawful killings and injuries to civilians and destruction of civilian property, both by Israel and by Hamas and Palestinian armed groups.
In this report Amnesty International examines targeted Israeli attacks carried out on inhabited civilian homes in the light of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law, specifically the rules on the conduct of hostilities. It does so by focusing on eight cases, in which targeted Israeli attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 111 people, of whom at least 104 were civilians, including entire families, and destroyed civilian homes. The cases were chosen for a variety of reasons, including the availability of witnesses, the clarity of the evidence and the number of civilians killed. They include two cases in which there were particularly high civilian casualties (at least 33 civilians killed in the bombing of the al-Dali building and 25 in the destruction of the Abu Jame’ family home).
In all the cases documented in this report, there was a failure to take necessary precautions to avoid excessive harm to civilians and civilian property, as required by international humanitarian law. In all cases, no prior warning was given to the civilian residents to allow them to escape.
In four of the cases (the attacks on the Abu Jame’ family home, the al-Dali building, the al- Bakri family home and the Abu Dahrouj family home), in which a total of at least 66 civilians were killed, Amnesty International has been able to identify a named individual who was an apparent member of an armed group. However, even if a fighter or a military objective was indeed present (or thought to have been present), the loss of civilian lives, injury to civilians
Israeli attacks on inhabited homes and damage to civilian objects appear disproportionate, that is, out of proportion to the likely military advantage of carrying out the attack, or otherwise indiscriminate. However, due to lack of information from the Israeli authorities, Amnesty International cannot be certain in any of these attacks what was being targeted. In cases where there is no military objective, an attack could violate the international humanitarian law prohibition of direct attacks on civilian objects and on civilians. Attacks directed at civilian objects or at civilians, or disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure civilians are war crimes. The fact that, in these eight cases which caused the deaths of at least 104 civilians, Israel has made no statement about who or what was being targeted, or even acknowledged that it carried out these particular attacks and the loss of civilian lives that they caused, is deeply worrying.
These attacks fit into a broader pattern. In addition to the cases detailed in this report, Amnesty International has documented more than 12 other targeted attacks that caused the deaths of civilians, including children, and destroyed all or part of inhabited home. Most appear to have been aerial attacks conducted by manned aircraft. Looking more widely at Israeli attacks of different kinds, including attacks during heavy fighting in areas such as al- Shuja’iyeh and Khuza’a, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem listed 72 homes destroyed in the Gaza Strip in whole or in part with families inside them up until 11 August 2014. This destruction killed 547 people, of whom 125 were women under the age of 60, 250 were minors, and 29 were people over the age of 60.
In all the cases described in this report and other similar ones during the conflict, the onus is on Israel to provide information concerning the attacks and their intended targets. Israel must also explain what precautions were taken to spare civilians in attacks that targeted military objectives but resulted in civilian deaths and injuries and destruction of civilian homes. The cases documented in this report, as well as other credible allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law, must be promptly, independently and impartially investigated, in accordance with international law and standards and, wherever there is sufficient admissible evidence, alleged perpetrators, be they military or civilian officials, must be brought to justice in proceedings that fully respect international fair trial standards. Civilian victims and their families should receive full reparation. In addition, it is important that, following investigations, the Israeli military should learn the lessons of this and previous conflicts and change its military doctrine and tactics for fighting in densely populated areas such as Gaza so as to ensure strict compliance with international humanitarian law, in particular the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution.
METHODOLOGY
Amnesty International has been unable to send a delegation of researchers to visit the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the conflict. The Israeli authorities have refused, up to the time of writing this report, to allow it and other international human rights monitors to enter the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing with Israel, despite the organization’s repeated requests since the beginning of the conflict to do so. The Egyptian authorities have also not granted Amnesty International permission to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, again despite the organization’s repeated requests to do so.
Amnesty International has consequently had to carry out research remotely, supported by two fieldworkers based in Gaza who were contracted to work with the organization for periods of several weeks. They travelled extensively within the Strip, visiting every site described in this briefing more than once, as soon as possible after the damage took place, interviewing victims and eyewitnesses of every case recorded and taking photos and videos of the sites. The organization consulted on the interpretation of photos and videos with military experts. It extensively reviewed relevant statements by the Israeli military and other official bodies, but they provide no indication as to whether any of the attacks in this report were directed at a particular military target. Amnesty International has therefore made considerable efforts to assess the military purpose, if any, of each attack. Amnesty International also studied relevant documentation produced by UN agencies, Palestinian, Israeli and other non- governmental organizations, local officials, media, and others who monitored the conflict, and consulted with them as needed.
Despite these efforts, the lack of access for Amnesty International’s researchers, as well as military and medical experts who would have accompanied them, has clearly hindered the work of Amnesty International, as it has hindered the work of other human rights organizations that have wished to document violations of international law in the Gaza Strip.
Medical evidence and evidence of weapons used, both in damaged buildings and elsewhere, help monitors to assess how, with what and why something was targeted, but they disappear quickly. Suffering from a great shortage of living space, residents of the Gaza Strip started almost immediately after the conflict, as after other recent conflicts, to clear up the rubble and use what can be salvaged to rebuild their homes. Fragments of munitions which would have shown what weapons were used have been carried off from the rubble of destroyed homes by civil defence workers, souvenir hunters and others.
Governments who wish to hide their violations of human rights from the outside world have frequently banned Amnesty International from accessing the places in which they have been committed. Although Amnesty International researchers have consistently been able to access Israel and the occupied West Bank, they have not been allowed by the Israeli government to enter the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing since June 2012. The UN Fact- Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, which was set up by the UN Human Rights Council and reported in 2009 on violations of international law by all sides during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip criticized this policy stating: “The Mission is of the view that the presence of international human rights monitors would have been of great assistance in not only investigating and reporting but also in the publicizing of events on the ground.”6 It added: “The presence of international human rights monitors is likely to have a deterrent effect, dissuading parties to a conflict from engaging in violations of international law.”
Amnesty International sent its findings to the Israeli authorities on 8 October 2014, requesting any relevant information that could be provided on each of the cases in this report. It sent a memorandum to the three Israeli mechanisms investigating aspects of Operation Protective Edge – the State Comptroller, the army’s General Staff Mechanism for Fact-Finding Assessments, and the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee – as well as to the army’s Chief of General Staff, the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Defense, Justice and Foreign Affairs. It asked for explanations of why each of these attacks was carried out; who or what was being targeted; what means of attack were selected; what precautions were taken to minimize the risk of harm to civilians and civilian objects; and whether any investigation had taken place or was ongoing. It had not received a response before this report was finalized, but any response received will be reflected in future publications.
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