Rockets fired from Gaza at Israel land near border

The Foreign Ministry condemned an Amnesty global report released on Wednesday that claims Israel committed war crimes during Operation Protective Edge last summer. Wael al-Namla, 26, and Sharif, 4, were reportedly amputated after being injured during an Israeli strike on August 1, 2014, which has become known as “Black Friday”.

Palestinian resistance faction Hamas, for its part, welcomed the report’s findings, saying the evidence it contained should be submitted to The Hague-based worldwide Criminal Court.

“It seems that Amnesty forgot that there was an ongoing conflict – during which the IDF was operating to stop rocket fire and neutralize cross-border assault tunnels, and Palestinian terrorist organizations were actively engaging in intensive conflict against the IDF from within the civilian environment”. By analyzing hundreds of photos, videos, satellite images and eyewitness testimony, researchers allege that Israeli forces targeted entire areas of the city of Rafah in Gaza with disregard to civilian and residential areas.

“They carried out a series of disproportionate or otherwise indiscriminate attacks, which they have completely failed to investigate independently”, he added.

The attack drew anger and widespread condemnation from Palestinian and Israeli leaders, who denounced it as an act of terror. The frontier has been largely quiet since a 2014 war between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in which more than 2 100 Palestinians and 73 Israelis were killed.