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Gaza Strip/Israel: Civilians Bear Brunt of Attacks
(New York, February 29, 2008) – Indiscriminate rocket attacks by the Palestinian group Hamas against civilian areas in Israel, including one that killed an Israeli man on February 27, are serious violations of international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said. Attacking civilian areas with indiscriminate weapons violates the core humanitarian principle of civilian immunity.
Human Rights Watch also said the high number of Palestinian civilians killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza indicates the need for independent investigations to determine whether Israel has taken all feasible precautions to avoid harming civilians, as required by the laws of war.
Hamas said it fired 55 locally made rockets from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday, February 27, one of which killed Roni Yichia, age 47, near Sapir College on the outskirts of the Israeli border city Sderot. Israeli authorities said that at least 30 rockets had landed in and around Sderot, resulting in shrapnel wounds to several people. One rocket hit a home and another a factory lunchroom. Another rocket reportedly landed near Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, a larger city farther from Israel’s border with Gaza.
“Attacking civilian areas with indiscriminate weapons violates the core humanitarian principle of civilian immunity,” said Joe Stork, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “Hamas leaders have an obligation to stop such indiscriminate attacks immediately.”
Hamas said it fired the rockets in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike earlier in the day that killed five members of Hamas’s armed wing riding in a minivan. Other Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks in recent days have killed Palestinian civilians as well as persons whom Israel claims were engaged in armed activity.
Following the Hamas rocket barrage, an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza on Wednesday evening killed three Palestinian childrenRead More
Hamas said it fired 55 locally made rockets from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday, February 27, one of which killed Roni Yichia, age 47, near Sapir College on the outskirts of the Israeli border city Sderot. Israeli authorities said that at least 30 rockets had landed in and around Sderot, resulting in shrapnel wounds to several people. One rocket hit a home and another a factory lunchroom. Another rocket reportedly landed near Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, a larger city farther from Israel’s border with Gaza.
“Attacking civilian areas with indiscriminate weapons violates the core humanitarian principle of civilian immunity,” said Joe Stork, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “Hamas leaders have an obligation to stop such indiscriminate attacks immediately.”
Hamas said it fired the rockets in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike earlier in the day that killed five members of Hamas’s armed wing riding in a minivan. Other Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks in recent days have killed Palestinian civilians as well as persons whom Israel claims were engaged in armed activity.
Following the Hamas rocket barrage, an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza on Wednesday evening killed three Palestinian childrenRead More
For more information:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/02/29/isr...
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