09/09/2009 The vast majority of the Palestinians killed in Israel's aggression in the Gaza Strip last winter were innocent civilians rather than “combatants”, according to a new report published by the B'Tselem organization Wednesday morning. This is the opposite of what the Israel occupation forces has said.
According to B'Tselem, 1,387 Palestinians were killed during the three weeks of “Operation Cast Lead”, of whom 773 were “noncombatants” and only 330 were “combatants”. B'Tselem wrote that its figures were "the result of months of meticulous investigation and cross-checks with numerous sources."
The remaining 248 were Hamas policemen killed when Israel bombed Palestinian police facilities at the start of the operation. The Israeli military has argued that these policemen, as armed Hamas members, should be considered combatants. However, B'Tselem noted that they took no part in the actual fighting. In 36 cases, the organization was unable to determine whether the casualties were “combatants” or “noncombatants”.
Of the civilians killed, 320 were minors under the age of 18 and another 109 were women, the organization said. The Israeli occupation, in contrast, claims that 1,166 Palestinians were killed during Cast Lead, of whom 709 were Hamas combatants and 295 were civilians. It said it was unable to determine the status of the remaining 162. The Israeli military lists 89 children under age 16 and 49 women among the fatalities, whereas B'Tselem lists 252 children under 16 and 111 women over this age.
Unlike the Israeli military, however, B'Tselem listed each casualty by name, and said it had collected eyewitness testimony, death certificates or other evidence for each. Gaza emergency medical services say 1,382 Palestinians were killed in the offensive, 447 of them under the age of 18.
"Behind the dry statistics lie shocking individual stories," the organization said in a press communique. "Whole families were killed; parents saw their children shot before their very eyes, relatives watched their loved ones bleed to death; and entire neighborhoods were obliterated."
"The extremely heavy civilian casualties and the massive damage to civilian property require serious introspection on the part of Israeli society," B'Tselem statement said, calling on Israel to conduct an "independent and credible" investigation.
The organization's spokeswoman, Sarit Michaeli, told Haaretz that B'Tselem researchers had examined every possible source of information, from the findings of in-house Israeli occupation forces investigations to lists prepared by Palestinian human rights organizations. However, she said, they were unable to compare their fatality list to that of the Israeli military because the occupation army refused to give it to them. She added that B'Tselem had identified 19 minors as “combatants”, but this did not come close to explaining the difference in the two sets of figures.
[ 09/09/2009 - 12:44 PM ]
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement said Wednesday that the report issued by B’Tselem, the Israeli information center for human rights in the occupied Palestinian lands, further vindicated the commission of war crimes in the last military aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri stressed that the report confirmed that Israel committed acts of murder, destruction of civilian homes and extermination of whole families including hundreds of children and women.
Spokesman Abu Zuhri added that the report refuted Israel’s persistent denial of committing war crimes and the use of civilians as human shields.
The spokesman called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities and bring Israeli war criminals to justice for all the atrocities they committed against the Palestinian people.
B’Tselem’s report which was published in Israeli newspapers on Wednesday said that the IOF troops killed 1,387 Palestinians including 773 civilians during the aggression on Gaza.
The report pointed out that during three weeks, the IOF troops committed a massive scale of killing and destruction, annihilated whole families and shot dead children before their parents.
BREAKING NEWS: Israel ‘understated’ Gaza deaths
- September 10, 2009
BBC - 9 September 2009
An Israeli human rights group says many more Palestinian civilians were killed in the Israeli military’s campaign in Gaza than the army admits.
B’Tselem said detailed research with careful cross-checking showed 1,387 Palestinians died, over half of them civilians and 252 of them children.
This contradicts an Israeli army report stating fewer than 300 civilians died in fighting in December and January.
Israel launched the assault to halt rocket attacks from Hamas-run Gaza.
The overall B’Tselem total broadly tallies with the official Palestinian death toll and the findings of other non-governmental organisations, although the proportion of civilians it identifies is lower.
DIFFERENT DEATH TOLLS
Palestinians killed during Israeli military offensive in Gaza, 27 Dec to 18 Jan
Total dead: 1,387 (1,166)
Fighters: 330 (710-870)
Uniformed police: 248 (not counted by IDIRD)
Non-combatants: 773 (295-460)
Women: 109 (49)
Children under 16: 252 (89)
Sources: B’Tselem (and Israeli Defence Intelligence Research Dept)
The group says the extent of civilian deaths does not prove, in itself, that Israel violated the laws of war. However, it says it raises grave concerns about the military’s behaviour when taken in the context of “numerous testimonies” from troops and Palestinians.
Amnesty International has already accused Israel of committing war crimes during its offensive. The Israeli army has admitted “rare mishaps” during the campaign but denies troops violated international humanitarian law.
‘Serious introspection’
B’Tselem said the findings had been compiled during months of research, including visits to the families of those killed. It said it was unable to compare its figures with the official Israeli ones because the military refused to provide its list of fatalities. The group said the results should compel the Israeli government to launch an independent investigation into its three-week offensive.
Earlier this year the Israeli army said that 1,166 Gazans were killed in the conflict, a quarter of whom were civilians. Its figures indicated that the toll included 709 militants from Hamas and other groups, and 295 non-combatants. According to B’Tselem, 1,387 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military, including 773 civilians, 300 combatants and 248 civilian police – whom Israeli officials classify as militants. B’Tselem has counted 252 children under the age of 16 who were killed – the military puts that figure at 89 – and 109 women over 18.
“The extremely heavy civilian casualties and the massive damage to civilian property require serious introspection on the part of Israeli society,” B’Tselem said, adding that it considered the army’s internal probe insufficient.
The group acknowledged the challenges of combat in the densely crowded Gaza Strip, and criticised the “illegal and immoral actions” by Palestinian militants accused of hiding among the civilian population. But this “cannot legitimise such extensive harm to civilians by a state committed to the rule of law”, B’Tselem added.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the report, but has previously rejected such criticism. It has said the aim of the campaign “was target the Hamas terror organisation and not citizens of the Gaza Strip”.
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