Israel's destruction of Gaza tower blocks a 'war crime', says Amnesty
By destroying multi-storey blocks suspected of being part-used by Hamas, Israel meted out illegal "collective punishment", says human rights group
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Smoke rises from the rubble of the
Al-Zafer apartment tower following Israeli airstrikes on August 24th,
2014 that collapsed the 12-story building in Gaza City Photo: AP Photo/Khalil Hamra
1:47PM GMT 09 Dec 2014
Israel committed "war crimes" by destroying four landmark buildings
in Gaza - including three multi-storey blocks of flats - in the final phase
of last summer's 50-day war with Hamas, Amnesty International alleged on
Tuesday.
The aerial demolition of the four structures is described in a 32-page report,
which documents how the attacks left hundreds of people homeless and
destroyed numerous businesses.
While the buildings were evacuated before being destroyed and no-one was
killed, Amnesty said the action amounted to "collective punishment"
of a civilian population - a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention,
to which Israel is a signatory.
The first attack, on the 12-storey Zafer Tower building in an upmarket
residential district of Gaza City, appeared to herald a change in Israeli
military tactics when it happened on August 23, three days before a
ceasefire finally ended a conflict that killed 2,189 Palestinians, 72
Israelis and one migrant worker.
It was the highest building to be levelled since Israel's military offensive,
Operation Protective Edge, began on July 7 and came after officials publicly
warned that every house from which "militant activity" was
launched would risk attack.
The tower block - home to 44 mainly middle class families - was hurriedly
evacuated after the army issued alerts in the form of a warning missile,
leaflet drops and phone calls to several residents. Nonetheless, more than
20 people were injured by flying debris.
Israeli officials later said building housed a Hamas "operations centre" but provided no details.
In the following days, three further buildings were destroyed: a seven-storey office block in Rafah that was said to contain an office of the Hamas interior ministry; the 16-floor Italian Centre; and al-Basha tower, a 13-storey complex.
In its report, "Nothing is immune, Israel's destruction of landmark buildings in Gaza", Amnesty said Israel was not justified in demolishing entire buildings.
"The destruction appears also to have violated the prohibition in international humanitarian law of direct attacks on civilian objects and therefore to amount to the war crime of intentionally directing attacks at civilian objects," reads the report.
Philip Luther, the director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme, added: "All the evidence we have shows this large scale destruction was carried out deliberately and with no military justification. Both the facts on the ground and statements made by Israeli military spokespeople at the time indicate that the attacks were a collective punishment against the people of Gaza and were designed to destroy their already precarious livelihoods."
The Israeli Embassy in London responded by accusing Amnesty of focusing 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 embassy stressed how Amnesty "acknowledges that the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] 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".
Meanwhile, added the embassy, Amnesty "ignores the clear evidence that Hamas systematically and deliberately used civilian infrastructure for military purposes".
Israeli officials later said building housed a Hamas "operations centre" but provided no details.
In the following days, three further buildings were destroyed: a seven-storey office block in Rafah that was said to contain an office of the Hamas interior ministry; the 16-floor Italian Centre; and al-Basha tower, a 13-storey complex.
In its report, "Nothing is immune, Israel's destruction of landmark buildings in Gaza", Amnesty said Israel was not justified in demolishing entire buildings.
"The destruction appears also to have violated the prohibition in international humanitarian law of direct attacks on civilian objects and therefore to amount to the war crime of intentionally directing attacks at civilian objects," reads the report.
Philip Luther, the director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme, added: "All the evidence we have shows this large scale destruction was carried out deliberately and with no military justification. Both the facts on the ground and statements made by Israeli military spokespeople at the time indicate that the attacks were a collective punishment against the people of Gaza and were designed to destroy their already precarious livelihoods."
The Israeli Embassy in London responded by accusing Amnesty of focusing 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 embassy stressed how Amnesty "acknowledges that the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] 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".
Meanwhile, added the embassy, Amnesty "ignores the clear evidence that Hamas systematically and deliberately used civilian infrastructure for military purposes".
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