Palestinian losses in ​wake of massive, indiscriminate

rocket fire on Israel

Amnesty in its latest report on this summer's conflict between Israel and Hamas, chooses to focus on monetary losses to Palestinian civilians, rather than investigate the systematic and deliberate firing of rockets and mortars at Israel's civilian population by an internationally-recognised Jihadist terror group.

The report offers a decontextualised description of events, while relying heavily on testimonies gathered by unnamed local "fieldworkers", who are not identified and whose credibility is never questioned.

Amnesty refers to targeting by the IDF of four buildings in Gaza. It acknowledges that the IDF went to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties, including advance phone calls, the dropping of leaflets, notice to residents to maintain a safe distance from the buildings, as well as "knock on the roof" warning missiles. These measures are unprecedented in modern warfare, and Amnesty's report explicitly states that no one was killed in the strikes.

Nevertheless, the report goes on to make unfounded allegations concerning the conduct of the IDF, disregarding key factors: First, the IDF does not intentionally target civilians or civilian property; its activity is dictated by international law, is directed against military objectives, and abides by the principle of proportionality.

Second, Amnesty ignores that in some cases, releasing information that would disclose in detail the target of military strikes might jeopardise classified information and intelligence sources.

Third, and most blatantly, Amnesty ignores the clear evidence that Hamas systematically and deliberately used civilian infrastructure for military purposes. Amnesty's inability to determine the military use of these sites does not indicate a lack of such use.

We welcome Amnesty's stated intention of publishing reports regarding Hamas human rights violations in Gaza. The absence of reports on Hamas, coupled with outrageous public statements by Amnesty officials recently, comparing Israel to the terror group ISIL, cast serious doubt as to Amnesty's capacity to play a constructive role in covering this issue.

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