The Guardian has compiled detailed evidence of alleged war crimes committed by Israel during the 23-day offensive in the Gaza Strip earlier this year. It involved the use of Palestinian children as human shields and the targeting of medics and hospitals.
A month-long investigation also obtained evidence of civilians being hit by fire from unmanned drone aircraft said to be so accurate that their operators can tell the colour of the clothes worn by a target.
The testimonies form the basis of three Guardian films that reinforce calls last week for a full inquiry into Operation Cast Lead, which was aimed at Hamas but left about 1 400 Palestinians dead, including up to 300 children.
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) refused to respond directly to the allegations, but issued statements denying the charges.
The latest disclosures follow soldiers’ evidence published in the Israeli press about the killing of Palestinian civilians and complaints by soldiers involved in the operation.
Amnesty International has said Hamas should be investigated for executing at least two dozen Palestinian men in apparent score-settling with rivals and alleged collaborators while Operation Cast Lead was under way.
But human rights groups say Israel committed the vast majority of offences and that the Gaza offensive was a disproportionate response to Hamas rocket attacks.
Since 2002, 21 Israelis have been killed by Hamas rockets fired from Gaza and during Operation Cast Lead there were three Israeli civilian deaths, six Israeli soldiers killed by Palestinian fire and four killed by friendly fire.
Said Amnesty’s Donatella Rovera, who spent two weeks in Gaza investigating war crimes allegations: ”Only an investigation mandated by the UN security council can ensure Israel’s cooperation and it’s the only body that can secure some kind of prosecution.
Some of the most dramatic testimony gathered by the Guardian came from three teenage brothers in the al-Attar family, who described how they were taken from home at gunpoint and made to kneel in front of Israeli tanks to deter Hamas fighters from firing, and then were sent by Israeli soldiers into Palestinian houses to clear them.
”They would make us go first so if fighters shot at them the bullets would hit us, not them,” 14-year-old Al’a al-Attar said.
Medics and ambulance drivers said they were targeted when they tried to help the wounded. Sixteen were killed. According to the World Health Organisation, more than half Gaza’s 27 hospitals and 44 clinics were damaged by Israeli bombs.
In a report released last week, doctors for Human Rights Israel said there was ”certainty” that Israel violated international humanitarian law, with attacks on medics, damage to medical buildings, indiscriminate attacks on civilians and delays in medical treatment for the injured.
The Guardian gathered testimony on missile attacks by Israeli drones against clearly distinguishable civilian targets.
The Geneva Convention and customary law stipulates that hospitals are not legitimate targets in warfare and forbids the use of involuntary human shields.
An Israeli embassy spokesman said any allegations were suspect because of Hamas pressure on witnesses. However, the accounts gathered by the Guardian are supported by the findings of human rights organisations and soldiers’ testimony published in the Israeli press.
An IDF squad leader is quoted in the daily newspaper, Ha’aretz, as saying his soldiers interpreted the rules to mean ”we should kill everyone there [in the centre of Gaza]. Everyone there is a terrorist”. —