MSM: Israelis shot Gaza civilians waving white flags – HRW

(Yahoo) – Israeli soldiers shot and killed 11 Palestinian civilians who were waving white flags, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday in a report on the Gaza war whose credibility Israel immediately questionned.

“The Israeli military should conduct thorough, credible investigations into these deaths to tackle the prevailing culture of impunity,” the New York-based organisation said in a 63-page report.

It pointed out that the 11, four of them children, were only a small fraction of the total death toll in the December-January 2009 Israeli offensive. Palestinian medics and human rights groups say more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed, including more than 400 children aged under 16.

“However, these (11) deaths stand out because the civilians were in groups waving a white cloth, T-shirt or scarf, and no Palestinian fighters were in the area at the time,” HRW said.

“Under the laws of war, individuals who carry out or order deliberate attacks on civilians are responsible for war crimes.”

The Israeli military dismissed the report saying it was based “upon the testimony of a number of Palestinians whose credibility has not been substantiated.”

It also claimed Hamas used Palestinians holding up white flags “as cover for belligerent action and to protect themselves from return fire.”

“Merely displaying a white flag does not automatically grant immunity,” it said adding that soldiers are authorised to “neutralise the threat” if a person holding a white flag was endangering them.

The military pointed out it was investigating a number of incidents but said that evidence so far showed its soldiers “acted in accordance with the rule of war as defined by international law despite the complex nature of combat.”

On the Israeli side, three civilians and 10 soldiers died in the combat and rocket strikes, according to official figures at the end of the offensive.

In one of the cases mentioned in the HRW report, two women and three children were standing in front of their home after a soldier ordered them outside.

At least three of them were holding pieces of white cloth when a soldier opened fire, killing two girls aged two and seven and wounding the third girl and their grandmother.

“We spent seven to nine minutes waving the flags, and our faces were looking at them,” the grandmother, who was shot twice, was quoted as saying. “And suddenly they opened fire and the girls fell to the ground.”

In five of the seven incidents detailed in the report, Israeli soldiers shot at civilians who were walking down the street with white flags, trying to leave areas of fighting.

The military said last month it was investigating incidents in which soldiers allegedly killed civilians holding white flags, but HRW charged: “Israel?s poor record on investigations makes objective probes unlikely.

“Field investigations typically consist of asking soldiers to question other soldiers, without seeking or considering testimony from external witnesses, and taking exculpatory claims of soldiers at face value,” the group said of Israeli military investigations.

The office of Israel’s right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu questioned HRW’s credibility.

“Human Rights Watch’s fundraising activities in Saudi Arabia in tandem with the kingdom’s authoritarian government raises important questions as to that organisation’s objectivity, professionalism, integrity and credibility,” said spokesman Mark Regev.

Responding to similar criticism last month, HRW acknowledged it visited Saudi Arabia in May 2009 and attended two private receptions, whose 50 guests included three people “with governmental affiliations.”

It said the visit was part of an effort to broaden its funding base, but stressed it did not solicit and would never accept funds from the government officials.

Earlier this month, HRW published another report on the Gaza war in which it said rocket attacks carried out against Israel by the coastal strip’s Hamas rulers and other Palestinian militant groups amounted to war crimes.

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