Israeli Gaza report charges Hamas with war crimes
The inter-ministerial report published by Israel Sunday contains documentary evidence rebutting Palestinian charges that Israel violated the rules of war in its Gaza operation last summer. It lists as the causes for a defensive war the long barrages of Palestinian missiles and mortars against Israeli civilian areas, kidnappings, and attacks on Israel by sea and through cross-border assault tunnels..
"Hamas combat manuals and training materials recovered by IDF forces in the Gaza Strip demonstrate that its strategy was to deliberately draw the hostilities into Palestinian urban terrain, and to use built-up areas and the presence of the civilian population as human shields for tactical advantage and political gain and propaganda.”
The report stated that "despite warnings to civilians of coming attacks, many Palestinians were deliberately exposed to the hostilities because of Hamas's illegal tactics that themselves constitute war crimes.” It shows mosques used by snipers and schools as ammo depots.
The IDF routinely rigorously investigates every allegation of misconduct by IDF troops and any miscreants are punished as it did after the Gaza operation. The Israeli document was published ahead of the UNHRC report, convinced it was designed to be the basis for the Palestinian war crimes case against Israel before the International Criminal Court. Israel refused to cooperate with the UNHRC probe, charging its findings were one-sided and determined in advance of any investigation.