Rights group says Hamas rockets a clear war crime
JERUSALEM — A prominent international human rights group on Thursday accused Hamas of committing war crimes during a recent 11-day conflict with Israel by indiscriminately firing thousands of rockets toward Israeli population centers.
In its report, Human Rights Watch also said it had concluded that a misfired rocket launched by Hamas killed seven Palestinians when it fell short in the Gaza Strip. In a separate development, a U.N. agency said it had uncovered militant tunnels near one of its facilities and that Hamas had taken over one of its schools, undermining the agency’s neutrality.
The New York-based rights group has repeatedly come under fire by Israel and its supporters over reports accusing Israel of war crimes against the Palestinians as well as apartheid and persecution. But in this report it agreed with most legal experts — and Israel itself — that indiscriminate rocket fire from Palestinian population centers directed at Israeli civilian areas is a violation of international law.
“Palestinian armed groups during the May fighting flagrantly violated the laws-of-war prohibition on indiscriminate attacks by launching thousands of unguided rockets towards Israeli cities,” Human Rights Watch acting Middle East and North Africa director Eric Goldstein said.
It based its conclusions on an investigation into Hamas rocket attacks that killed 12 civilians in Israel.
Last month the group issued a report that accused the Israeli military of carrying out attacks during the conflict that “apparently amount to war crimes” after investigating three Israeli air strikes that it said killed 62 Palestinian civilians. The group said there were no clear military targets in the air strikes and said Israel had not taken sufficient precautions to avoid civilian casualties.