Hamas’s indiscriminate rocket fire aimed at Israel this spring amounted to a war crime because they targeted civilian areas, Human Rights Watch announced on Thursday.
Hamas, the Gaza-based U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, launched thousands of rockets at Israel during a flare-up of tension in May that lasted about two weeks. While a significant majority of the rockets aimed at Israel were intercepted by the Iron Dome, their missile rocket-intercepting system, Israel launched their own strikes, targeting Hamas but also killing civilians nonetheless.
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“Palestinian armed groups during the May fighting flagrantly violated the laws-of-war prohibition on indiscriminate attacks by launching thousands of unguided rockets towards Israeli cities,” Eric Goldstein, acting Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said.
“The failure of both Hamas authorities and the Israeli government to provide accountability for alleged war crimes by their forces highlights the essential role of the International Criminal Court,” he added.
The group previously announced their belief that Israel also committed unlawful acts. In particular, HRW investigated three Israeli strikes that killed 62 Palestinian civilians, and the group found “no evident military targets in the vicinity.”
“Israeli forces carried out attacks in Gaza in May that devastated entire families without any apparent military target nearby,” said Gerry Simpson, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. “Israeli authorities’ consistent unwillingness to seriously investigate alleged war crimes, as well as Palestinian forces’ rocket attacks toward Israeli population centers, underscores the importance of the International Criminal Court’s inquiry.”
Under international humanity law, warring parties can only target military objectives, and deliberate attacks on either civilians or civilian objects are prohibited, as are indiscriminate attacks.
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Hamas began firing rockets after Israeli officials took aggressive actions, including the forced eviction of Palestinian families from an east Jerusalem community.
During the exchange of aerial attacks, the Israeli military killed 260 Palestinians, including at least 129 civilians and 66 were children, according to HRW, while Israeli authorities said Hamas’s aerial attacks resulted in the deaths of a dozen civilians, including two children. The rocket fire ended after a ceasefire was negotiated by Egypt.
