Now Amnesty has released a fuller report on “war crimes”, accompanied by a video (Part 1 is available; Part 2 is still being subtitled). Most of the criticism is of Israeli tactics and operations, although there is also condemnation of Hamas for firing rockets into southern Israel and placing military equipment in civilian areas.
The summary introduction of the full report follows the video:
INTRODUCTION
At 11.30am on 27 December 2008, without warning, Israeli forces began a devastating bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip codenamed Operation “Cast Lead”. Its stated aim was to end rocket attacks into Israel by armed groups affiliated with Hamas and other Palestinian factions. By 18 January 2009, when unilateral ceasefires were announced by both Israel and Hamas, some 1,400 Palestinians had been killed, including some 300 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians, and large areas of Gaza had been razed to the ground, leaving many thousands homeless and the already dire economy in ruins. Read the rest of this entry »
In April 2009 a four-person mission including Jean-François Fechino, an international specialist in the effects of banned weapons upon the environment and sustainable development, visied Gaza under the auspices of the Arab Commission for Human Rights. The samples of earth and dust that they brought back from Gaza were analyzed by a specialist laboratory.
While a United Nations committee under Richard Goldstone, the former International War Crimes Prosecutor, has not been authorized by the Israeli government to investigate such incidents in Gaza, the findings of the ACHR team raises the possibility that the use of depleted uranium, in addition to white phosphorous bombs, by the Israeli military during Operation Cast Lead will be confirmed.
The report concluded that Palestinian fighters had only unsophisticated weapons, such as Qassam and Grad rockets, while Israel was able to employ the most modern weaponry to bombard the population of Gaza from the air, land, and sea.
Israel initially denied it had used white phosphorous in the offensive; it later admitted its use but denied this was unlawful. The Committee was satisfied on the available evidence that white phosphorous was used as an incendiary weapon in densely populated areas. Read the rest of this entry »
SEC. GATES: First, I would like to express my horror and deep regret over today’s shooting incident at Camp Liberty in Iraq. I offer my sympathy and condolences to the families of those who were killed. We are still in the process of gathering information on exactly what happened, but if the preliminary reports are confirmed, such a tragic loss of life at the hands of our own forces is a cause for great and urgent concern, and I can assure you that it will get this department’s highest-priority attention.
As you know, I just returned from a trip to Afghanistan, where I met with our troops and commanders in the field. My purpose in going was to see firsthand the preparations and plans under way to execute the president’s strategy for the region, especially as significantly more American troops begin arriving in country. I thought it critically important to get a sense from the ground level what needs — what the needs are, what the challenges are and what the solutions to some of the problems are. Read the rest of this entry »
The Reuters report came through yesterday morning, five days after the mass killing of civilians (100? 120? 130? 150?) in the Farah area of western Afghanistan. According to Nader Nadery, an official with an Afghanistan human rights commission: “Doctors who had treated victims from the incident had reported strange burns they believed may have been caused by a chemical like white phosphorus.”
The US military moved quickly to deny the claim, adding the implication that maybe it was the Taliban who were dropping white phosphorous from the sky. Colonel Greg Julian said, “”There was no smoke or illum (illumination) used in Farah. I can’t say whether the insurgents used it, but we certainly didn’t.” Read the rest of this entry »
We first learned of “journalist, mom, Occupied Palestinian” Laila el-Haddad during the Gaza War, as she and her father provided invaluable updates, including the first eyewitness evidence of the effect of white phosphorous on Gazans. Since then, we have followed her blog, which combines political insight and the personal experience of “being Palestinian”.
Last week el-Haddad, who lives in North Carolina, tried to return to Gaza. What followed was a 30+ hour ordeal in Cairo Airport, as Egyptian officials ensured that she did not make it to her native land. El-Haddad (“Gazamom”) provided a real-time, moving account on Twitter as she fended with the border bureaucrats and looked after her two children. She subsequently wrote this blog entry:
I was born Palestinian
“Its not very comfortable in there is it?” said the stony faced official, cigarette smoke forming a haze around his gleaming oval head.
“Its OK. We’re fine” I replied wearily, delirious after being awake for a straight period of 30 hours.
“You could be in there for days you know. For weeks. Indefinitely. “So, tell me, you are taking a plane tomorrow morning to the US?” Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s a story from the recent Gaza War, courtesty of Amnesty International UK, that probably didn’t reach your local newspaper.
A week before Israel launched its first attacks on 27 December, US sources shipped 989 20-foot containers of military supplies. The 14,000 tons of munitions replenished those used by the Israelis during the war. The shipments included white phosphorous weapons.
About 300 of the containers were unloaded at Ashdod in March. It is unclear where the other containers were sent.
Update: CNN and Al Jazeera have now picked up on this report and run summary stories.
Two days after investigators for the United Nations Human Rights Council documented Israeli violations of human rights in the Gaza War, Human Rights Watch has released a 71-page report with “witness accounts of the devastating effects that white phosphorus munitions had on civilians and civilian property in Gaza”.
The report contends:
White phosphorus munitions did not kill the most civilians in Gaza – many more died from missiles, bombs, heavy artillery, tank shells, and small arms fire – but their use in densely populated neighborhoods, including downtown Gaza City, violated international humanitarian law (the laws of war), which requires taking all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm and prohibits indiscriminate attacks.
The unlawful use of white phosphorus was neither incidental nor accidental. It was repeated over time and in different locations, with the IDF “air-bursting” the munition in populated areas up to the last days of its military operation. Even if intended as an obscurant rather than as a weapon, the IDF’s repeated firing of air-burst white phosphorus shells from 155mm artillery into densely populated areas was indiscriminate and indicates the commission of war crimes.
Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza
I. Summary
This report documents Israel’s extensive use of white phosphorus munitions during its 22-day military operations in Gaza, from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009, named Operation Cast Lead. Based on in-depth investigations in Gaza, the report concludes that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) repeatedly exploded white phosphorus munitions in the air over populated areas, killing and injuring civilians, and damaging civilian structures, including a school, a market, a humanitarian aid warehouse and a hospital. Read the rest of this entry »
As yet more reports, this time from Israeli soldiers and from the United Nations Human Rights Council, document the extent of Israeli abuses and killing of Gazan civilians, Enduring America takes a look back at the Israeli explanations — and denials — during the war:
On 27 December, Israel began bombing the 360 square kilometres of Gaza, in which 1.4 million Palestinians live. A day later, On 28 December, 2008, Tim Marshall of Sky News interviewed Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni:
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In April 2009 a four-person mission including Jean-François Fechino, an international specialist in the effects of banned weapons upon the environment and sustainable development, visied Gaza under the auspices of the Arab Commission for Human Rights. The samples of earth and dust that they brought back from Gaza were analyzed by a specialist laboratory.
SEC. GATES: First, I would like to express my horror and deep regret over today’s shooting incident at Camp Liberty in Iraq. I offer my sympathy and condolences to the families of those who were killed. We are still in the process of gathering information on exactly what happened, but if the preliminary reports are confirmed, such a tragic loss of life at the hands of our own forces is a cause for great and urgent concern, and I can assure you that it will get this department’s highest-priority attention.
We first learned of “journalist, mom, Occupied Palestinian” Laila el-Haddad during the Gaza War, as she and her father provided invaluable updates, including the first eyewitness evidence of the effect of white phosphorous on Gazans. Since then, we have followed her blog, which combines political insight and the personal experience of “being Palestinian”.
Here’s a story from the recent Gaza War, courtesty of Amnesty International UK, that probably didn’t reach your local newspaper.
As yet more reports, this time from Israeli soldiers and from the United Nations Human Rights Council, document the extent of Israeli abuses and killing of Gazan civilians, Enduring America takes a look back at the Israeli explanations — and denials — during the war:
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