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oPt

OPT: War crimes against children

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Executive Summary

On 27 December, 2008, Israel launched a wide-scale military offensive against the population and infrastructure of the Gaza Strip. Operation 'Cast Lead' lasted 23 days and was the biggest Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip in nearly 42 years of occupation. 1,414 Palestinians were killed, including 313 children. The evidence obtained by PCHR strongly indicates that the overwhelming majority of these victims were civilians.

This PCHR investigative report has been written in response to the unprecedented number of children who were killed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) during the offensive on Gaza. Its aim is to investigate and document how and why so many children were killed, and to present urgent recommendations in order to protect the lives of children in Gaza. For the purposes of this report, and in accordance with international standards, PCHR uses the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) definition of a child as a boy or girl under the age of eighteen.

The report examines the pattern of IOF killings of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the second intifada, in September 2000. It then focuses on PCHR's ongoing investigations into the deaths of the 313 children killed during the recent offensive. PCHR has gathered data and documentation, including testimonies from numerous eye-witnesses, which testify to the widespread targeting of unarmed civilians, including children, throughout the offensive. In addition, the report also explores the psychological impact of the offensive on children, and the alarming scale of physical injuries inflicted on children, some of whom were blinded, or had their limbs blown off or amputated, leaving them permanently disabled.

War Crimes Against Children exposes the abject failure of the IOF to uphold the precautions necessary in attacks, or to distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian objects, throughout the offensive. Other cases documented in this report detail indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including attacks on civilian homes, and schools where internally displaced people were sheltering.

The thirteen case studies in this report represent a fraction of the overall number of children killed during the offensive. However, they illustrate the reasons why so many children died, and what can be done to protect them in future. PCHR is continuing its rigorous investigations into all attacks perpetrated against the civilian population of Gaza, including children.

In addition to the 313 children who lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces, seven Palestinian child combatants were also killed. PCHR has consistently condemned the recruitment and use of children for armed combat and demands that all armed Palestinian groups cease this abuse of children.

The Centre is calling for an independent full-scale investigation into all documented attacks on civilians and civilian objects during the offensive, in order that the State of Israel be held fully accountable for the crimes it has perpetrated against Gaza's civilian population, including alleged war crimes against children.

In addition, the Centre demands that the international community intervenes to effectively lobby and pressure Israel to respect and uphold the human rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) in order to protect their lives, wellbeing and property.