MOSCOW, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - Three Israeli attacks on Gaza in late July and August led to numerous civilian deaths and violated laws of war, Human Right Watch (HRW) said Thursday in a press release.
"The Israeli military carried out attacks on or near three well-marked schools where it knew hundreds of people were taking shelter, killing and wounding scores of civilians. Israel has offered no convincing explanation for these attacks on schools where people had gone for protection and the resulting carnage," Fred Abrahams, special adviser at HRW, was cited in the press release.
According to the human rights watchdog, Israel's shelling of UN-run schools, serving as shelters for thousands of Palestinians in Beit Hanoun on July 24 and Jabalya on July 30, were unlikely to be carrying out any military objective. Furthermore, an apparent guided missile attack on a school in Rafah on August 4 was said to be aimed at Islamic Jihad militants near the school building; however, the Israeli military provided no reasonable explanation, why the attack had to be performed in front of a school with some 3,000 civilians inside, HRW noted.
Together the three attacks killed 45 people, 17 of them children, the human rights body claimed.
"Unlawful attacks carried out willfully – that is, deliberately or recklessly – are war crimes," the press release stressed.
"Israel should go beyond sweeping justifications and provide detailed explanations for its attacks in and around these three schools housing hundreds of displaced people. And it should end its practice of impunity by punishing those who violate the laws of war," Fred Abrahams was quoted as saying.
On August 26, Israel and Palestinian armed groups agreed on a ceasefire following 50 days of Israeli military operation in the Gaza strip targeting the Hamas movement. According to UN estimates, the conflict killed over 2,100 Palestinians and 71 Israelis.
