Amnesty International: Palestinian Terror Groups Committed War Crimes During Israel-Hamas 2014 War

Palestinian terrorist groups committed international war crimes by indiscriminately firing rockets in attempts to kill Jewish Israeli civilians during the summer 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, Amnesty International alleges in a new report published on Thursday.

The 63-page publication, titled, “Unlawful and Deadly: rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian armed groups during the 2014 Gaza/Israel conflict,” accuses multiple Palestinian jihadi groups of committing war crimes, the Jerusalem Post reports.

“Palestinian armed groups, including the armed wing of Hamas, repeatedly launched unlawful attacks during the conflict, killing six and injuring civilians,” said Philip Luther, who serves as director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Program.

“In launching these attacks, they displayed a flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law and for the consequences of their violations on civilians in both Israel and the Gaza Strip,” he added.

The report explains that the Palestinian terror groups had little regard for Gaza civilians.

The Amnesty International publication states: “In at least two cases, accounts indicate that attacks were launched in spite of the fact that displaced Gazan civilians were sheltering in the compounds or in neighboring buildings.”

“That day, while I was resting, two Qassam rockets were fired from the right and left of the house, at the same time that the missiles from the plane hit us,” An eyewitness revealed to Amnesty in its report.

The human rights group said that Israel has taken a serious approach in investigating claims of misconduct during the war, while Hamas has failed in doing so.

“Unlike Hamas, Israel is vigorously investigating its conduct, aiming to draw lessons and minimize civilian harm. Meanwhile, Hamas continues to incite terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, boast of building new cross-border assault tunnels, and test-fires rockets, in preparation for further violence against Israelis,” the report states.