Hamas committed war crimes against Gaza civilians, report finds

Amnesty International said in a report on Wednesday that Gaza's dominant Islamist Hamas committed war crimes against Palestinian civilians during last year's war with Israel. A statement by Hamas denies involvement in the actions described by Amnesty.

|
Khalil Hamra/AP/File
Masked Palestinian gunmen of the Hamas militant group hold weapons during a rally to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the group in Gaza City, Dec. 14, 2014. Amnesty International on Wednesday, May 27, 2015, accused the militant group of abducting, torturing, and killing Palestinians during last year's war with Israel, saying some of the actions amount to war crimes.

Amnesty International said in a report on Wednesday that Gaza's dominant Islamist Hamas committed war crimes against Palestinian civilians in the territory alleged to have collaborated with the enemy during last year's war with Israel.

A ceasefire last August ended 50 days of fighting between Gaza militants and Israel in which health officials said more than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed. Israel put the number of its dead at 67 soldiers and six civilians.

"Hamas forces carried out a brutal campaign of abductions, torture and unlawful killings against Palestinians accused of 'collaborating' with Israel and others during Israel's military offensive against Gaza," London-based Amnesty's report said.

A statement by Hamas denied involvement in the actions described by Amnesty, saying that rival Gaza families had taken part in "revenge attacks."

Earlier, a Hamas spokesman criticized the report as being unfair, unprofessional and not credible.

"The report is dedicated against Palestinian resistance (to Israel) and the Hamas movement ... It deliberately exaggerated its descriptions without listening to all sides and without making an effort to check the truthfulness of details and information," said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman.

In an earlier report in March, Amnesty criticized Israel and accused it of war crimes during the conflict. Israel said the report showed "extreme bias," had dismissed its security challenges and had ignored Hamas's actions.

Apart from the many deaths in the war, at least 16,245 homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by Israeli shelling and air strikes. Gaza militants fired thousands of rockets and mortar bombs into Israel.

In Wednesday's report, Amnesty listed a number of cases it described as "spine-chilling" in which Palestinians accused by Hamas of helping Israel were tortured and killed.

"The de facto Hamas administration granted its security forces free rein to carry out horrific abuses including against people in its custody. These spine-chilling actions, some of which amount to war crimes, were designed to exact revenge and spread fear across the Gaza Strip," the Amnesty report said.

Hamas dominates the Gaza Strip, a densely populated desert enclave on the Mediterranean which borders Israel and Egypt.

The Palestinians joined the International Criminal Court after the war, a move opposed by Israel, and the ICC is now examining possible war crimes in the conflict. But joining the court also exposes Palestinians to possible prosecution if a case is opened.

(Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Hamas committed war crimes against Gaza civilians, report finds
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2015/0527/Hamas-committed-war-crimes-against-Gaza-civilians-report-finds
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe