OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A US-based rights group says Israel violated laws of war in a series of airstrikes during an eight-day military operation last November against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Human Rights Watch says it counted 14 airstrikes in which there didn't appear to be a valid military target, and four others targeting militants, but which used disproportionate force. HRW says the attacks killed more than 40 Palestinian civilians. It cites a bomb attack on a Gaza home that killed a father and two children, ages 4 and 2. The group released the report late Tuesday. Israel's air assault came after increased rocket fire and other attacks by Gaza militants. “Israeli forces too often conducted airstrikes that killed Palestinian civilians and destroyed homes in Gaza without apparent legal justification,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. The rights group sent detailed information about the cases to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Jan. 14, requesting further information. At a meeting on Jan. 24 and in subsequent phone conversations, the military spokesperson's office told the group that the military chief of staff had ordered a general to conduct an “operational debriefing” concerning “dozens” of Israeli attacks during the conflict. Because previous Israeli “operational debriefings” involving attacks were not conducted by trained military police investigators or dedicated to investigating alleged laws-of-war violations, HRW said it decided to publish its findings rather than wait for their results. — Agencies
