Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Gaza Rocket Attacks Illegal: Watchdog

Palestinian militants violated the laws of war by launching rockets at Israeli cities from the Gaza Strip during last month’s fighting, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday.

The New York-based group also said that militant organisations in the territory, which is ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas, put Palestinian civilians in harm’s way by firing the rockets from within densely populated areas.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri dismissed the charges: “This report is biased because it equates a nuclear-armed country using all means of aggression against civilians and a people subject to the occupation who are defending themselves against Israeli violations of international accords amid the silence of the international community,” he said.

Israel launched a Nov. 14-21 air offensive with the declared aim of ending persistent rocket barrages on its territory.

Medical officials in the Gaza Strip said some 170 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in the hostilities. HRW said two of the Palestinian dead were apparently hit by rockets that fell short of their intended targets in Israel.

Six Israelis, including two soldiers, were killed in rocket strikes, the Israeli police and military said.

“Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim. There is simply no legal justification for launching rockets at populated areas,” HRW said in a report.

It said rocket crews fired from areas “near homes, businesses and a hotel, unnecessarily placing civilians in the vicinity at grave risk from Israeli counter-fire”.

As the ruling authority in the Gaza Strip, Hamas should, “stop unlawful attacks and punish those responsible”, HRW said. “The laws of war prohibit reprisal attacks against civilians, regardless of unlawful attacks by the other side”, it added.

In reports issued earlier this month, HRW said Israel had targeted journalists and killed 12 members of a single family in a strike on their home, violating the laws of war.

The Israeli military said in response to the HRW allegations that it “acts in accordance with the laws of armed conflict, despite the ongoing deliberate violations and abuse of these laws by the terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.