 | | | The Red Cross demanded an end to Israel's two year blockade on Gaza |
CAIRO (Marwa Awad) A leading human rights organization Tuesday accused Israel of unlawful killing during its war in Gaza earlier this year just a day after the Red Cross slammed the Jewish state for the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Strip.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its latest report that Israel failed to exercise caution and unlawfully killed civilians with missile firing drones during the Gaza war.
Despite having advanced surveillance equipment, drone operators failed to exercise proper caution "as required by the laws of war" in verifying their targets were combatants and not civilians, said the report, citing six alleged strikes by remote-controlled aircraft. |
Human Rights Watch accused Israel of attacking civilians with its drones HRW based its findings primarily on debris from Israeli-made Spike missiles, which it said were fired from a fleet of spy drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Israel has denied charges of war crimes. The armed forces issued a statement casting doubt on HRW's research methods and asserting that all Israeli forces' combat actions "conform to international law, as do the weapons and munitions used."
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., Israel's main drone manufacturer said the missile, which has been sold widely abroad, can be fired by helicopters, infantry units and naval craft.
Asked how it was possible to know that the Spikes in question had been fired by drones rather than these other means, Marc Garlasco, HRW's senior military analyst, cited corroborative evidence such as Palestinian witnesses who said they had seen or heard the unmanned aircraft.
Israel said it launched its 22-day offensive to counter rocket fire from Hamas-ruled Gaza, and has since weathered foreign criticism over the killing of some 1,400 Palestinians, many of them civilians, during the fighting. |  | Red Cross finds Gaza "in despair" " Gaza neighborhoods particularly hard hit by the Israeli strikes will continue to look like the epicenter of a massive earthquake unless vast quantities of cement, steel and other building materials are allowed into the territory for reconstruction " ICRC report On Monday the International Committee of the Red Cross released a report which found that Gaza's population slipping deeper into despair as a result of Israel's crippling blockade and its politicization of humanitarian and health issues.
"Gaza neighborhoods particularly hard hit by the Israeli strikes will continue to look like the epicenter of a massive earthquake unless vast quantities of cement, steel and other building materials are allowed into the territory for reconstruction," the report said. |
Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza became homeless after the Israel war The ICRC placed the blame squarely on Israel’s obstinate closure of border crossings into the Strip that has led to major shortages in essential supplies such as painkillers, clean water, food and energy resources.
Lack of items like x-ray films and medical supplies have crippled Gaza’s health infrastructure and made adequate care impossible.
"Health issues in Gaza are often politicized and patients find themselves caught up in a bureaucratic maze," it said. "The procedures for requesting permission to leave the territory are complicated and involve both the Palestinian and Israeli authorities."
An estimated 100-150 people who lost limbs in Israel’s military operation are waiting to be fitted with artificial limbs, ICRC said. | | "Giving up on Gaza" " We came out of the rubble of war and destruction only to plunge into an abyss of neglect and isolation " Aleem Abu Saal, Gaza Israel’s restrictions on building materials, justified as a means to prevent the Islamist movement Hamas from hijacking material to rearm itself, means rebuilding of the battered strip has barely started.
The report demanded that Israel "lift import restrictions on spare parts, water pipes and building materials such as cement and steel so that homes can be rebuilt and vital infrastructure maintained and upgraded."
Aleem Abu Saal, 32, is still trying to pick up the broken pieces of his life in Gaza five months after Operation Cast Lead ended.
“We came out of the rubble of war and destruction only to plunge into an abyss of neglect and isolation,” Abu Saal told Al Arabiya. |
" I think this war has proved that the world cannot do much for Gaza and that Gazans themselves must not wait for anyone to help them out of the rut they are in " Abu Saal, Gaza With concrete steel and glass hard to come by for construction Palestinians are turning to more primitive means of building. Abu Saal, who has been living in a tent with his family, is currently making homes out of mud and straw.
“I am working with my cousin and eldest son who thank Allah did not die in the war to build a home with these simple materials,” Abu Saal explained and added that since the world has “given up on Gaza,” its inhabitants must take matters into their own hands.
Donor countries pledged almost $4.5 billion to rebuild Gaza at an international summit in Egypt in March but is of little use since building materials cannot be imported into the strip.
“I think this war has proved that the world cannot do much for Gaza and that Gazans themselves must not wait for anyone to help them out of the rut they are in,” Abu Saal said.
But as people began to adapt to their deteriorating conditions, Gaza’s economy has collapsed, with 44 percent unemployment rate fast becoming the new status quo for Palestinians isolated from “the outside world," the ICRC report stated.
The report is the latest in a string of similar ones from leading rights and aid organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. | | Settlements keep on expanding " We are certainly going backwards not forward on the peace negotiations " Musa Shehedah, Palestinian political analyst As the report warned of “further descent into misery with every passing day,” Israel’s government announced new settlement expansion plans in Jerusalem, in a move that has many experts criticizing Israel’s “deliberately antagonistic” approach to Middle East peace negotiations and U.S. demands.
Fifty new housing units were authorized for construction in the settlement of Adam as part of a larger plan to build 1,450 new apartments in northern Jerusalem.
“We are certainly going backwards not forward on the peace negotiations,” Musa Shehedah, Palestinian political analyst told Al Arabiya. “The U.S. has made its stance clear and Israel’s deliberate antagonistic response is clear as well.”
As the government announced its settlement plans, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited Washington to resume talks of peace in the region. |
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