Israeli Soldiers Killed Gaza Women, Children Waving White Flags, HRW Report

HRW: Israel killed Gaza women, children waving white flags

Published yesterday (updated) 14/08/2009 16:11

Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation terrorist soldiers killed Palestinian women and children who were in groups raising white flags signaling their civilian status during the recent assault on the Gaza Strip, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.

In a 63-page report, the prominent US-based rights group said Israeli soldiers violated international humanitarian law during the three week war.

HRW urged the Israeli military to “conduct thorough, credible investigations into these deaths to tackle the prevailing culture of impunity.”

"The Israeli military is stonewalling in the face of evidence that its soldiers killed civilians waving white flags in areas it controlled and where there were no Palestinian fighters," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch in a statement.

"These cases need thorough, independent investigations," he said.

HRW complied testimony and other evidence showing that 11 civilians were killed and at least eight wounded in such shootings.

The shootings “comprise a small fraction” of what it counts as 1,100 Palestinian deaths. (Ma’an used the Palestinian Ministry of Health figure of more than 1,500.) But the deaths “stand out because the civilians were in groups waving a white cloth, T-shirt, or scarf, and no Palestinian fighters were in the area at the time,” the organization said.

No evidence was found in any of the cases that the civilian victims were used as human shields by Palestinian fighters, or were caught in crossfire, HRW said.

“In each of the incidents, the evidence strongly indicates that, at the least, Israeli soldiers failed to take all feasible precautions to distinguish between civilians and combatants before opening fire, as required by the laws of war,” the rights group said. “At worst, the soldiers deliberately shot at persons known to be civilians.”

One case documented by HRW, two women and three children were ordered out of their home by an Israeli soldier. While standing in front of their house, at least three of them holding pieces of white cloth, a soldier opened fire, killing two girls, ages two and seven, wounding the third girl and their grandmother.

No threat

"We spent seven to nine minutes waving the flags, and our faces were looking at them [the soldiers]," the grandmother, who was shot twice told HRW. "And suddenly they opened fire and the girls fell to the ground."

HRW said that its investigation corroborated the woman’s testimony. “Accounts from witnesses, tank tracks, an ammunition box and bullet casings found at the scene, and an examination of the grandmother's wounds by forensic experts indicate that the Israeli soldier fired upon identifiable and unarmed women and children,” the organization said.

In five of the seven incidents detailed in the report, HRW said Israeli soldiers shot at civilians who were walking down the street with white flags, trying to leave the areas of fighting.

Israel has dismissed the report as it has all other accusations of unlawful killings in Gaza.

The Israeli military responded that its forces "are instructed to honor whoever waves a white flag as a sign of surrender and to avoid hurting them."

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office also issued a statement in response to the report, saying, “Hamas is responsible for any civilian casualties in Gaza Strip. Hamas chose the fighting venue and made cynical use of civilians as human shields.”