August 12, 2009 - IMEMC

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday that Israeli soldiers shot and killed during the war against the Gaza Strip eleven Palestinian civilians, including five women and four children, and wounded eight others in seven separate attacks, although they were carrying white flags.

HRW added that the Palestinians were in groups and that they waved white shirts and white flags while no Palestinian fighters were present, but the army opened fire at them.

THRW called on the Israeli military to probe the attacks adding that the civilians were not used as human shields by Hamas fighters and were not killed during clashes between the soldiers and the fighters.

It stated that the soldiers refrained from taking the needed precautions and failed to distinguish between fighters and civilians.

"In the worst case scenario, the soldiers deliberately targeted the civilians", HRW added, "If so, they must they held accountable for war crimes.

The new HRW report is the sixth report on Israeli violations during the war on Gaza. The group accused Israel of violating the International Law which obliges the combatants to distinguish between civilian and military targets.

It also stated that the homemade shells fired by Hamas against Israeli civilians also constitute a war crime.

At least 1450 Palestinains were killed during the war, more than 950 of them were civlians, including children. The number of slain Palestinains is now more than 1600 as dozens of residents died of their wounds.