Gaza War Civilian Deaths--Who is to Blame?

A war that began almost three weeks ago as an effort by Israel to stop Hamas rocket fire from killing Israeli civilians has been consumed by a bitter debate over who is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.

 

The Israeli military blames Hamas for using Gazans as human shields and for retreating to densely populated areas to fight the war. But Palestinians and human rights groups say that Israel has been reckless and that in pursuing Hamas, it has employed tactics that unnecessarily drive up the civilian toll.

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A group of Israeli human rights organizations on Wednesday said Israel's behavior in Gaza represents "blatant violation of the laws of warfare and raises the suspicion, which we ask be investigated, of the commission of war crimes."

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Israel said it was doing everything it could to prevent civilian casualties. "We are taking many precautions, including dropping leaflets," said Maj. Avital Leibovich, an Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman. "Our pilots do U-turns when they see civilians near their targets."

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Fred Abrahams, a senior researcher with the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, said Hamas is unquestionably committing a war crime when it fires rockets into civilian areas of Israel. But he said there are also serious questions over the legality of Israel's war tactics. "I am convinced the IDF has conceived its interpretation of the [international] law to come up to the very limit, and possibly over," he said. .