Amnesty International called for an investigation into possible war crimes that were committed during last month’s Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip.
A report by the human rights group concluded on Tuesday that Israeli forces conducted disproportionate air strikes that killed Palestinian civilians including children.
In its early May offensive on the Gaza Strip Israel unlawfully destroyed Palestinian homes often without military necessity in what amounts to a form of collective punishment against the civilian population Amnesty International said.
Amnesty International investigated nine Israeli airstrikes that resulted in the killing of civilians and in the damage and destruction of residential buildings in the Gaza Strip.
“Three separate attacks on the first night of bombing on May 9 in which precision-guided bombs targeted three senior Al-Quds Brigades commanders killed 10 Palestinian civilians and injured at least 20 others.”
“They were launched into densely populated urban areas at 2 a.m. when families were sleeping at home which suggests that those who planned and authorized the attacks anticipated and likely disregarded the disproportionate harm to civilians.”
“Intentionally launching disproportionate attacks a pattern Amnesty International has documented in previous Israeli operations is a war crime.”
“In our investigation we heard vivid accounts of bombs obliterating homes of fathers digging their little girls out from under rubble and of a teenager fatally injured as she lay in bed holding a teddy bear. More frightening than any of this is the near certainty that unless perpetrators are held to account these horrifying scenes will be repeated” said Heba Morayef Middle East and North Africa Regional Director at Amnesty International.
She added that Israel’s impunity for the war crimes it repeatedly commits against Palestinians and for its cruel ongoing 16-year illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip emboldens further violations and makes injustice chronic.
Amnesty concluded that the unlawful attacks on Palestinian homes and the illegal blockade imposed on Gaza since 2007 are part and parcel of Israel’s apartheid system against Palestinians which amounts to the crime against humanity of apartheid under both the Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute.
