Israel preempts UN Gaza report with one of its own
ISRAEL issued a 160-page document justifying its military offensive in Gaza. The publication Thursday of "The Operation in Gaza - Legal and Factual Aspects," which deals with last December and January's Operation Cast Lead, comes just days before the scheduled release of two United Nations reports on the Gaza war that are expected to be harshly critical of Israel.
JERUSALEM – Israel issued a 160-page document justifying its military offensive in Gaza.
The publication Thursday of “The Operation in Gaza – Legal and Factual Aspects,” which deals with last December and January’s Operation Cast Lead, comes just days before the scheduled release of two United Nations reports on the Gaza war that are expected to be harshly critical of Israel.
The report “has been prepared at this time in order to place the Gaza Operation in its proper factual and legal context,” says the document, which notes that some of the analysis is only provisional since the IDF is still conducting field and criminal investigations into some of the allegations.
The report says Israel had a right to undertake the operation following “incessant rocket and mortar attacks upon thousands of Israeli civilians and (Hamas’) other acts of terrorism.” Hamas violated international law, the report says, documenting Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians and the ways in which Hamas put Palestinian civilians in danger.
The report also “gives previously unpublished details of the multiple IDF investigations into allegations made by various groups that violations of the law were committed.”
It sets forth the preliminary findings of some of the IDF field investigations, including those related to firing on UN facilities and medical facilities, the use of white phosphorous, and destruction of private property by IDF ground forces.
JTA
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