Responding to rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian militants, the Israeli Defence Force began a bombardment of the Gaza Strip in December 2008 followed by a ground offensive.
United Nations Mission Headed by Judge
A four-member commission, under the leadership of South African judge Justice Richard Goldstone, was appointed by the United Nations to investigate suspected violations of international law during the three-week conflict, which ended in January 2009.
According to Sharon Otterman, writing in The New York Times (September 15, 2009), the commission’s 575-page report delivers scathing criticism of both sides.
Ms. Otterman writes that there have been no credible investigations of alleged atrocities by either the Israelis or the Palestinians: “If that did not change within six months, the United Nations Security Council should refer the situation to the International Criminal Court in the Hague for possible prosecution, the panel concluded.”
Israel Accused of Using Disproportionate Force
The conflict lasted from December 27, 2008 until January 14, 2009. During that time three Israeli civilians and 10 Israeli soldiers were killed. Among Palestinians, the death toll was much higher; humans rights groups and the Palestinians say more than 1,400 people lost their lives.
UN mission also “concludes that the Israeli military operation was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance of an overall and continuing policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population, and in a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian population.”
This would constitute a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention which aims to protect civilians from violence during time of war.
Prohibited Weapon Used by Israeli Forces
The report points out that Israeli forces twice shelled hospitals and in one case the shells contained white phosphorus.
The 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons bans the use of white phosphorus weapons when targetted against civilians. The substance burns intensely and causes horrible wounds in people as well as starting fires in buildings.
During the Gaza conflict, Amnesty International said it found “indisputable evidence of widespread use of white phosphorus in densely populated residential areas in Gaza City and in the north.”
The fact-finding mission concurred with Amnesty and, as reported by The New York Times “The panel found no evidence of the enemy fire that the Israeli military cited as rationale for its attack.”
Palestinians also Condemned for Human Rights Violations
The Palestinians also come in for some withering criticism from the fact-finding team. The report says Palestinian groups such as Hamas had committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.
According to BBC News (September 15, 2009) the mission, “said their launching of rockets which ‘cannot be aimed with precision at military targets’ breaches the fundamental principle of sparing civilian lives.
‘Where there is no intended military target and the rockets and mortars are launched into civilian areas, they constitute a deliberate attack against the civilian population,’ it said.”
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