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World Jewish News
Amnesty International report blames Israel
28.05.2009
A human rights group blamed Israel for ending the cease-fire that began the military conflict in Gaza, and accused Israel of violating the rules of conflict.
Amnesty International in its annual report said that the cease-fire broke down after Israeli forces killed six "Palestinian militants" in attacks on Nov. 4, 2008.
The report took Israel to task for the blockade imposed on Gaza and highlighted several Palestinians it said died after being refused permission top leave the coastal strip for medical treatment.
The launch of the Gaza military offensive, the report stated, "brought conditions to the brink of human catastrophe."
The report did acknowledge that: "Many killings of Palestinian civilians in the first half of the year and during the December military offensive were in response to indiscriminate rocket and mortar attacks launched by Palestinian armed groups from the Gaza Strip against nearby Israeli towns and villages and against Israeli army positions along the perimeter of the Gaza Strip."
The report added that: "Hundreds of other Palestinian civilians were killed and injured in the last five days of the year in the Israeli military offensive, some as a result of direct attacks on civilians or civilian buildings, others in indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks."
The report also took Israel to task for detaining Palestinians for long periods of time; for denying family visits to Palestinian prisoners from Gaza and the West Bank; for torturing Palestinian prisoners and for the expansion of West Bank settlements.
Источник: JTA
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