August 05, 2014

Amnesty calls UN Security Council to assess violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israeli forces, Hamas and Palestinian armed groups

editor:	Murat Suner

As the conflict has escalated in recent weeks, Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Israeli authorities and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, including the military wing of Hamas, to ensure that civilian lives are protected. All parties have an absolute obligation under international humanitarian law to protect the lives of civilians caught in the hostilities.

Against this background Amnesty published an open letter to all members of the Security Council on the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The statement sets out Amnesty International’s assessment of the patterns of serious violations of international humanitarian law that have been committed since 8 July 2014 by Israeli forces, on the one hand, and Hamas and Palestinian armed groups, on the other. Israeli forces have carried out indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas and direct attacks on civilian homes, violating international humanitarian law and, predictably, killing and injuring many civilians across the Gaza Strip; some of these attacks may amount to war crimes.

The three-week bombardment of Gaza as a whole has already claimed well over 1,000 Palestinian lives, the majority of them civilians, and destroyed civilian infrastructure and thousands of homes. Medical and humanitarian supplies and assistance have been hugely disrupted and, in some cases, attacked, and critical water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged.

Hamas and Palestinian armed groups have committed war crimes by firing indiscriminate rockets at Israeli towns and cities, killing three civilians in Israel and damaging civilian property.

Amnesty's full statement can be read here.