Israeli Human rights group: “shelling civilians in Gaza is a war crime”

Saturday May 19, 2007 09:16 by Najeeb Farraj - IMEMC News

The Israeli Human Rights group B'Tselem has sent out an urgent letter to the Israeli defense minister Amir Biretz, asking him to stop the army form targeting civilians and infrastructure in Gaza.

The group considers the current round of attacks on the region as a form of collective punishment, a practice defined as an illegal war crime.

The letter came in response to a call made by certain Israeli politicians to target the Palestinian infrastructure in Gaza, including the water refinery and the only electricity power station in the area.

B’Tselem views such attacks on civilians as an act of revenge that will not stop the Qassam home made shells being fired at Israeli targets.

B'Tselem also called the firing of home made shells an illegal war crime, admitting that Israeli has the right to protect its civilians, but that this right should not translate into the punishment that civilians in the Gaza Strip are currently subject to.

Translated by Ghassan Bannoura – IMEMC News Room

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