Israeli attacks called ‘callous,’ war crimes

JERUSALEM – The human rights group Amnesty International said Wednesday that Israel had displayed “callous indifference” and in some cases committed war crimes when it bombed scores of homes of suspected militants, sometimes killing entire families, during last summer’s war in Gaza.

The attacks on family homes of suspected operatives was the signature tactic of the 50-day Israeli campaign against Hamas and allied militant groups in the Gaza Strip in July and August.

Israel’s declared aims of the war, which included bombardments from land, sea and air, followed by a ground offensive, were to stop rocket fire at Israel and destroy networks of tunnels, some of which reached into Israel.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry dismissed the Amnesty International report as biased, saying that it ignored war crimes by Hamas, including “the use of human shields.”

More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed in the conflict, about 70 percent of them civilians, according to the United Nations. On the Israeli side, 73 soldiers and civilians were killed in combat, and in rocket and mortar strikes.

McClatchy-Tribune