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     Amnesty Urges Investigation of 'Unprecedented' Israeli Attacks in Gaza

   by VOA News

   Rights group Amnesty International called for an investigation into the
   Israeli military's actions during its 50-day war against Hamas in the
   Gaza Strip.

   In a new report Wednesday, Amnesty said Israel carried out an
   "unprecedented number of attacks on inhabited homes," causing an
   "appalling" scale of death and destruction.

   The fighting in July and August killed more than 2,100 Palestinians in
   Gaza, most of them civilians, along with 67 Israeli soldiers and six
   Israeli civilians.

   Human rights violations

   Amnesty's report cited both sides for committing serious human rights
   violations, but focuses on Israeli bombings of occupied buildings in
   Gaza.  It said Israel did not take necessary precautions to ensure the
   attacks would not harm civilians.

   Phillip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director, said
   Israeli forces showed "callous indifference" for the destruction they
   caused along with a "shocking disregard" for Palestinians not involved
   in the fighting.

   Israel has not responded to the report.

   The report said Amnesty identified several cases in which a fighter was
   in a building that Israel bombed, but that their presence alone should
   not have made the site a military target.

   Amnesty said Israel could have canceled, postponed or revised attacks
   in order to make it less likely they would harm civilians or their
   property.

   Ahead of some airstrikes, the Israeli military dropped flyers warning
   civilians to evacuate areas it said were being used by militants to
   launch rockets into Israeli territory.

   Few safety options

   But many of the Palestinians said they had few options of places to go
   in the densely populated enclave along the Mediterranean Sea.

   Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians found shelter at schools
   run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, but Israeli
   bombs also damaged many of those sites, killing civilians and several
   staff as well.

   Amnesty said the international community should lead a human rights
   investigation because Israel has a "long-standing failure to
   investigate and prosecute alleged war crimes."

   The report faulted both Israel and the Palestinians for not taking what
   it calls "meaningful measures" to address serious violations and bring
   those responsible to justice.

   It said ending that kind of impunity would help deter future violations
   from taking place.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/amnesty-urges-investigation-of-unprec
   edented-israeli-attacks-in-gaza/2508952.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/amnesty-urges-investigation-of-unprecedented-israeli-attacks-in-gaza/2508952.html