Fair Game

“The harrowing descriptions by ambulance drivers and other medics of the utterly impossible situation in which they have to work, with bombs and bullets killing or injuring their colleagues as they try to save lives, paint a grim reality of life in Gaza,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.

“Even more alarming is the mounting evidence that the Israeli army has targeted health facilities or professionals. Such attacks are absolutely prohibited by international law and would amount to war crimes. They only add to the already compelling argument that the situation should be referred to the International Criminal Court.”

Hospitals, doctors and ambulance staff, including those trying to evacuate people injured in Israeli attacks, have come under increased fire since 17 July.

  Amnesty International

As the 72-hour ceasefire in Gaza enters its second day, Palestinian officials have been meeting with prosecutors at the International Criminal Court to push for a probe of alleged war crimes committed by Israel during the 29-day offensive that left nearly 1,900 Palestinians dead. [...] Human Rights Watch accused Israeli soldiers of shooting and killing fleeing civilians in Gaza, citing interviews with seven Palestinians in the village of Khuza’a.

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The report was based in part on testimony from Ashraf Ibrahim al-Najjar, who was trapped in his house by shelling for three days, then shot at when he tried to leave.

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ASHRAF IBRAHIM AL-NAJJAR:   At the time, since there was no Israeli coordination with the Red Cross, we decided to go out at our own risk. We said, "That’s it. We have to leave before the house falls on us." We got out to the street. We took the mothers and the children with us. We raised up the white flag and continued walking at our own risk. We were shot at about 400 or 500 meters from our house. We were shot at. We didn’t know if the shooting was by a tank or the special forces. God only knows.

  Democracy Now!

There is video of this show on the site.

AMY GOODMAN: Israel has said it attempted to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza and accused Hamas of putting its people in harm’s way by launching rockets from within densely populated districts. Last month, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, dismissed the charges of Israeli war crimes. He said, quote, "Some are shamelessly accusing Israel of genocide and would put us in the dock for war crimes. But the truth is that the Israeli Defense Forces should be given the Nobel Peace Prize ... a Nobel Peace Prize for fighting with unimaginable restraint," he said.

I’ll let you add your own comments to that.

KENNETH ROTH [Director, Human Rights Watch]: Yeah, I mean, this was a truly tragic case, I mean, as your introductory segment showed. Khuza’a is a small town in the southern part of Gaza. Beginning on about July 21st, it was the subject of fairly relentless bombardment. Finally, after a couple of days, on July 23rd through July 25th, families slowly tried to leave Khuza’a for their larger city of Khan Younis nearby, hoping to find refuge there. And as you would do in a situation like this, they raised white flags. They did everything they could to make clear that they were not militants. But on several different occasions, Israeli forces shot at them and actually killed some among the people who were fleeing.

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[T]his is not just a matter of going and discussing whether maybe the International Criminal Court might get involved. You know, [the Palestinian Authority] should stop the charade and just invite the International Criminal Court in. It’s a simple thing to do.

Now, of course, the reason they’re not doing it is probably twofold. I mean, one is that the U.S. government and certain Western governments are shamefully putting pressure on the Palestinian Authority not to do that, threatening to withhold aid and all kinds of severe consequences. And this is their effort to protect Israel from a proper war crimes investigation. The other factor which may be playing a part is, of course, Hamas’s vulnerability to prosecution, as well. And we don’t know to what extent Hamas is telling the Palestinian Authority, you know, "Don’t you dare really bring in the International Criminal Court, because we’re at jeopardy, as well."

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The laws of war require you to use discriminate means, to focus very narrowly on a military target [butThe IDF uses] heavy artillery, 155-millimeter artillery, which is utterly inappropriate in a densely populated area, because this kind of artillery is considered accurate if it lands anyplace within a 50-meter radius. You know, you can imagine there are a lot of civilians in that area. It has a fragmentation and blast effect of 300 meters. And nonetheless, Israel lets off barrages of these heavy artilleries. The New York Times documented that yesterday. Or they’ll bring in their air force and simply bomb, even though there are many, many civilians in these areas. And it’s almost as if, you know, once they issue the warning, they feel it’s fair game to simply level the neighborhood, despite the many civilians who are still there.