JERUSALEM: An Israeli human rights group said on Wednesday more than half of the Palestinians killed in Israel’s Gaza offensive were civilians, findings that dispute Israeli military statistics.
The figures issued by the B’Tselem organization were broadly in line with those in reports published by groups such as Amnesty International and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights after the 22-day Israeli offensive ended in January.
B’Tselem, in a new report, said 1,387 Palestinians were killed in the war. It said 773 of the Palestinians killed in the December-January offensive “did not take part in the hostilities,” a figure that conflicts with the Israeli Army’s insistence that most of the casualties were militants.
Among the civilian dead, B’Tselem said, were 320 minors under the age of 18, not having taken part in the fighting.
The group said 252 children under the age of 16 and 111 women were among those killed, while the military put the figures at 89 and 49 respectively.
The Israeli military has said 1,166 Palestinians were killed during the offensive it dubbed Operation Cast Lead — 709 combatants, 295 civilians and 162 people whose status it was unable to clarify.
In a statement, B’Tselem said its researchers had visited Gaza homes to take witness testimony and collect documents to arrive at its casualty figures. It called on the Israeli government to initiate an independent investigation of the war.
“The extremely heavy civilian casualties and the massive damage to civilian property require serious introspection on the part of Israeli society,” B’Tselem said.
Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said in response to B’Tselem’s findings that the group “does not have the tools, nor the intelligence capabilities” to provide a full picture of casualties.
