More Than Half of Slain in November Gaza War Were Civilians

Rights Group: Israel Violated International Law

A new report (pdf) from Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has confirmed that the Netanyahu government violated international law in “some cases” during the eight day war against the Gaza Strip.

Of the 167 Palestinians killed in the Israeli attack, B’Tselem found that at least 87 of them were innocent civilians, and 31 of those civilians were children. Four Israelis were also killed in the war, all of them civilians.

B’Tselem issued a press release along with the report, noting that civilian deaths rose dramatically in the last four days of the war, and that Israel’s promises of a “precision” operation simply didn’t continue after the first day or so of hostilities.

The report found at least 20 cases of potential illegal conduct during the war, and says the Israeli military only responded to nine, and then only to say which were “closed” cases and which were still under review.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.