made "torture" and "unlawfal killings" part of its military campaign against Palestinian militants.
The report of Amnesty International (AI) came just two days after Human Rights Watch described Palestinian suicide bombers as "war criminals." On Monday at least 3 people died and 15 others were wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a shopping mall in central Israel, Israel Radio said.
While AI seemed to recognize Israel’s difficulties, it made clear that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) committed "some acts" during Operation Defensive Shield that "were war crimes."
VIOLATIONS
In a statement AI said it had documented "serious human rights violations by Israeli forces" such as "unlawful killings, torture and ill-treatment of prisoners." In addition Amnesty also reported "destruction of hundreds of homes sometimes with the residents still inside."
Another problem is that wounded people can often not be reached because "the blocking of ambulances and denial of humanitarian assistance and the use of Palestinian civilians as "human shields", AI said on its website.
However Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Daniel Taub accused Amnesty of ignoring the reasons for the military incursions. "The report describes Israel as going into the West Bank as if this happened in a vacuum," Taub told reporters.
DILEMMAS
"There really are dilemmas here for any democracy," Taub said, who accused Palestinian fighters of using residential neighborhoods and ambulances for cover during the fighting.
Yet, Amnesty warned that taking measures "to prevent unlawful violence…must not violate international law." It noted that in (the towns of) Jenin and Nablus, the IDF blocked access for days to ambulances, humanitarian aid and the outside world while the dead and wounded lay in streets or houses," the AI said.
"In Jenin a whole residential quarter of the refugee camp was demolished leaving 4,000 people homeless," the human rights group added.
TENSIONS
Despite meetings with the IDF in May to discuss these tensions, AI claimed that it had received no answer on its reported cases from the army and authorities and that there was no evidence that those responsible for abuses were prosecuted .
"Up to now the Israeli authorities have failed in their responsibility to bring to justice the perpetrators of serious human rights violations. War crimes are among the most serious crimes under international law, and represent offences against humanity as a whole," AI said.
"Bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to justice is therefore the concern and the responsibility of the international community," the organization stressed. "All states who are parties to the Geneva Conventions must search for those alleged to have committed grave breaches of the Conventions and bring them to justice."
