On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch suspected the Israeli military of carrying out attacks that “apparently amount to war crimes” during an 11-day war against Hamas in May.
The international human rights organization issued its conclusions after investigating three Israeli airstrikes that it said killed 62 Palestinian civilians. It said, “there were no obvious military targets in the vicinity” of the attacks.
Although there were also statements on Hamas’ actions during the conflict, the report focused exponentially on Israeli actions during the fighting.
“Israeli forces carried out attacks in Gaza in May that devastated entire families without any apparent military targets nearby,” said Gerry Simpson, associated crisis and conflict director at HRW. He said Israel’s “consistent unwillingness to seriously investigate alleged war crimes” underscored the importance of an ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
There was no immediate reaction to the report by the Israeli military, which has recurrently said its attacks were aimed at military targets in Gaza. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties by launching rocket attacks and other military operations inside residential areas.
Hamas and Israel had entered an 11-day conflict in May, where Israeli air raids and artillery fire on the besieged Gaza Strip killed 254 Palestinians, including 66 children, and injured over 1,900 people.
