Israel 'may have committed crimes against humanity'
TNA - LONDON
Unlike previous accounts that were based on witness testimony, Amnesty's report has been compiled from analytical techniques applied by Forensic Architecture, a research unit based at London's Goldsmiths University.
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According to Taghrib News Reporter (TNA) in London, Amnesty International report suggests strong evidence Israeli forces were aiming to kill kidnapped soldier during massive bombardment of Rafah during last summer's Gaza war.
Amnesty International's report, "Black Friday": Carnage in Rafah, used state-of-the art analysis to reconstruct how Israeli military commanders invoked the controversial Hannibal Directive after Lieutenant Hadar Goldin was abducted shortly after a ceasefire had been declared on August 1 last year.(The Telegraph Newspaper)
The barrage exacted a heavy price on the civilian population of Rafah, Gaza's southernmost town, the report says. Sixteen people died after two bombs were dropped on a single-storey house in al-Tannur close to a tunnel where the captured officer was believed have been taken.
The bombardment continued for three days even after Israeli military authorities declared the soldier dead, killing at least 135 people, including 75 children, and suggesting that commanders were motivated by a desire to punish the Palestinian civilian population for his capture, Amnesty said.
Several ambulances were hit by strikes, while Rafah's al-Najjar Hospital was also targeted, possibly in the belief that Lt Goldin may have been taken there.
"There is overwhelming evidence that Israeli forces committed disproportionate, or otherwise indiscriminate, attacks that killed scores of civilians and in vehicles," the report concludes. "In some cases, there are indications that Israeli forces directly fired at and killed civilians, including some who were fleeing.
"There is consequently strong evidence that many such attacks in Rafah between 1 and 4 August were serious violations of international humanitarian law and constituted grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and other war crimes ... they may also constitute crimes against humanity."
Unlike previous accounts that were based on witness testimony, Amnesty's report has been compiled from analytical techniques applied by Forensic Architecture, a research unit based at London's Goldsmiths University.
Researchers analysed smoke plumes, the movement of shadows, and photographic and video footage posted on social media to construct a precise timeline of Israeli strikes on Rafah over four days from August 1.
The Hannibal Directive, which triggered the original wave of attacks after Lt Goldin's capture, is one of Israel's most secretive and controversial military commands.
First conceived in the late 1980s after the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia group, it calls for all necessary force to be used to prevent the abduction of troops by enemy combatants, even at the risk of injuring soldiers.
The directive is driven by Israel's desire to avoid being forced to release large numbers of enemy prisoners in exchange for winning the freedom of a captured soldier.
Israeli commanders have denied that the order allows for the killing of an abducted soldier.
However, Eyal Weizman, the Israeli-born director of Forensic Architecture, said Israel's actions in the aftermath of Lt Goldin's abduction plainly put his life at risk.
"We see that they are dropping one tonne bombs into the tunnel shaft and that establishes for us their attempt to kill the soldier that was kidnapped," he said. "There's a very controversial element in the Hannibal directive. It's whether you are risking the life of the soldier or whether you are trying to kill him.
during the 50-day conflict, that led to around 2,200 Palestinian deaths .
