Human Rights Watch slammed Palestinian terror groups for killing and injuring both Israelis and Palestinians with rocket fire in May, saying that they had committed war crimes during Operation Guardian of the Walls.
In a report published on Thursday, the organization said munitions that misfired and fell short killed and injured an “undetermined number” of Palestinians in Gaza. In one incident of a misfire over Jabalya, seven Palestinian civilians were killed and 15 injured. HRW was able to determine that the deaths were caused by a misfire based on witness accounts, site visits, munition remnants and a review of video footage.
A rocket launched from Gaza landed about 20 m. from a mosque in Jabalya. One Palestinian resident HRW interviewed said that he was told afterward that six rockets had been launched from a shopping and residential area 1 km. from where the rocket hit. The Palestinian organization Defense for Children announced at the time that two children were killed among eight total.
“Palestinian armed groups during the May fighting flagrantly violated the laws-of-war prohibition on indiscriminate attacks by launching thousands of unguided rockets toward Israeli cities,” said Eric Goldstein, acting Middle East and North Africa director at HRW.
There were 4,360 unguided rockets and mortars fired by Palestinian terror groups toward Israel during the war, killing 12 civilians and injuring several hundred people. HRW stated that Hamas authorities should stop unlawful rocket attacks toward Israeli population centers.
The HRW report added that Palestinian terror groups have fired unguided rockets in past rounds of fighting as well.
HRW recommended that the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) include unlawful Palestinian rocket attacks against Israel, as well as unlawful Israeli attacks in Gaza, in its war crimes probe against Israel and Hamas.
The organization additionally stressed that the larger context of the violence should be analyzed as well, including what it called Israel’s discriminatory treatment of Palestinians.
HRW called for judicial authorities in other countries to investigate and prosecute those “credibly implicated in serious crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel.”
HRW said that the conflict broke out amid the continuing blockade on the Gaza Strip, and after attempts to evict Palestinian residents from homes in east Jerusalem. The report notes that Palestinian terror groups claimed to launch rockets as a “response to unlawful Israeli attacks.”
The report did not mention attacks on Jewish-Israelis that took place in the days leading up to Operation Guardian of the Walls.
“Hamas authorities should stop trying to justify unlawful rocket attacks that indiscriminately kill and injure civilians by pointing to Israel’s violations,” Goldstein said. “The laws of war are meant to protect all civilians from harm.”
Abu Hamza, spokesman for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Gazan-based terror group, told Al Jazeera that when the terrorist organization discovered that there were children present at targets, “these missions were stopped,” adding “the enemy knows very well what I am talking about.”
Two Israeli children were killed by rocket fire from Gaza during the operation: five-year-old Ido Avigal and 16-year-old Nadin Awad.
Abu Hamza’s statement echoed statements the IDF often makes during operations to explain its policies to avoid civilian casualties. The IDF often calls off missions if civilians are spotted at the targeted location.
Palestinian terrorist groups have repeatedly been found to violate the rights of children and place children at risk.
HRW Executive Director Ken Roth, who in May accused Israel of being an apartheid state, came under fire in July after he retweeted a report on the severe spike in antisemitism in the UK during Israel’s war with Gaza in May, implying that Israeli government action was responsible for antisemitism.