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Thursday 30 Jul 2015 - 13:42 Makkah mean time-14-10-1436
 London (IINA) - The Israeli army indiscriminately and deliberately targeted civilians during a brutal 2014 assault known as "Black Friday", according to a new report on last summer's Gaza war.
The joint study by Amnesty International and Forensic Architecture, released on Wednesday, cites "strong evidence" of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity on August 1, 2014, as Israeli forces bombarded residential areas in Rafah in retaliation for the capture of one of its soldiers. "There is overwhelming evidence that Israeli forces committed disproportionate, or otherwise indiscriminate, attacks which killed scores of civilians in their homes, on the streets and in vehicles and injured many more," notes the report. "This includes repeatedly firing artillery and other imprecise explosive weapons in densely populated civilian areas… In some cases, there are indications that they directly fired at and killed civilians, including people fleeing."
The report relies on hundreds of videos, photos and satellite images that were analyzed and cross-referenced with eyewitness testimony. It catalogues the events of August 1-4, 2014, when a scheduled humanitarian ceasefire was derailed after Israeli soldiers clashed with Hamas fighters in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza. Two Israeli soldiers and one Palestinian fighter died in the ensuing firefight, and Hamas fighters captured a third soldier, Lieutenant Hadar Goldin. Israel responded by implementing the "Hannibal Directive", a controversial order that allowed soldiers to respond to the capture of their comrade by "unleashing massive firepower on persons, vehicles and buildings in the vicinity of the attack, despite the risk to civilians" or to the soldier himself, the Amnesty report noted.
The directive hinged on the belief that Goldin was better off dead than in the hands of enemy fighters. More than 1,000 bombs, missiles and shells were fired in Rafah within a few hours on August 1 alone, according to an Israeli military inquiry report. "Public statements by Israeli army commanders and soldiers after the conflict provide compelling reasons to conclude that some attacks that killed civilians and destroyed homes and property were … motivated by a desire for revenge - to teach a lesson to, or punish, the population of Rafah," the report stated, citing evidence that the attacks "were serious violations of international humanitarian law and constituted grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention or other war crimes."
HA/IINA
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