Incidents in the Gaza War (2008–2009)

Incidents in the Gaza War include incidents involving attacks against civilians, schools, a mosque, and naval confrontations.

United Nations facilities A United Nations inquiry into attacks on UN personnel or facilities during the Gaza War concluded that Israel had fired on U.N. personnel or facilities on eight separate incidents. The Board found no evidence that U.N. facilities had been used to launch attacks against the IDF. However, the Board's findings conclude only that violation of the inviolability of U.N. premises had occurred; its report does not make legal findings and does not consider whether laws of armed conflict were breached, as acknowledged by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The Israeli Government report notes that indeed the test applied by the UN Inquiry Board was merely whether the physical premises of U.N. facilities had been affected and not whether the Laws of Armed Conflict were violated.FACTUAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS , IMFA, July 2009 The IDF conducted its own probe into claims regarding incidents where UN and international facilities were fired upon and damaged. The findings published argue that in all the cases investigated, the damage resulted either from retaliatory fire or from misuse of the UN vehicles by Hamas militants and that there were no deliberate intentions to hit UN facilities.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations would consult with Israel to improve their lines of communication to prevent future attacks on U.N. personnel and facilities. Ban plans to seek compensation from Israel for the damage to U.N. property, estimated at $11 million. Mirit Cohen, an Israeli spokeswoman, said that Israeli military inquiries proved beyond doubt that the IDF did not intentionally fire at any U.N. installations. The U.N. board of inquiry urged Israel to withdraw charges that Palestinians had fired from inside U.N.-run schools and U.N. relief offices. Israeli officials said they had already done so in their military inquiry.

Al-Fakhura school attack, 6 January 2009

Al-Fakhura school attack, was an incident in which it was initially reported that Israeli forces had shelled a UNRWA school on January 6, 2009, and killed upwards of 30 people. At the time, the incident drew widespread condemnation from around the world. Reports from The Globe and Mail as well as Haaretz concluded that no one was killed inside the school in contradiction to a report from a separate branch of the UN. UNRWA responded that it had maintained from the day of attack "that the shelling and all of the fatalities took place outside and not inside the school."

UNRWA Asma Elementary School, 5 January 2009 Following the investigation into the incident, the U.N. Board concluded that Israel intentionally struck a U.N.-run school, exhibiting a "reckless disregard for the lives and safety" of civilians; three civilians were killed. The Israeli Government report claims that the UN Inquiry acknowledged that "information regarding the School functioning as a shelter for civilians was provided by the U.N. to IDF only on 6 January 2009, the day after the incident had occurred. A list of facilities serving as shelters — provided by the U.N. one day earlier on 4 January 2009 — did not include UNRWA Asma School". However, earlier that day, UNRWA apparently had opened the school as an emergency shelter, after it had been closed for nine days prior the incident. IDF's investigation of the incident revealed that on the night of 5 January, a unit of militants was present in Asma School site. Supposedly without being aware that civilians were present in the site, the IDF targeted the unit.

UNRWA Field Office Compound, 15 January 2009

On January 15, the IDF shelled a storage facility within the compound of the UN headquarters for Gaza, containing tons of food and sheltering hundreds of Palestinian refugees. According to United Nations personnel, unexploded ordnance analysis demonstrates that the compound was hit with 155m white phosphorus ammunition. The facility did not have the equipment to extinguish the chemical fire and it spread towards several fuel tanks. The UN asked the IDF for a local ceasefire in order to try to put out the fires, but the request was denied. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed "strong protest and outrage". An Israeli Defence Spokesperson was quoted as saying "We regret that such an incident occurred, I am sorry for it however Hamas fired rockets and troops received fire coming from within the site." The United Nations has dismissed the Israeli explanation as "total nonsense". A senior UN official who was inside the building when it was attacked also denounced the Israeli statements as false and said that there were only non combatants in the building.Gaza doctor refutes casualties reported in Cast Lead op , Haaretz, 23 January 2009 The report from Israeli Government quotes findings of the UN Board Inquiry into the incident: the Board "was not within its scope to assess general allegations or denials" regarding "possible military activity close to United Nations premises and possible military use of nearby buildings". The Israeli position on this incident is that the incident "took place during intense fighting, which involved Hamas’ deployment of anti-tank units equipped with advanced anti-tank missiles north of the UNRWA compound", which posed threat to IDF forces in the area. IDF implemented an effective smokescreen as a protective measure in response, anticipating only "limited risk to civilians in relation to this operational advantage".

Civilians and civilian infrastructure The IDF said civilian buildings in the Gaza Strip were destroyed during Operation Cast Lead due to "substantial operational needs" citing examples of buildings being booby-trapped, located over tunnels, or used by combatants to fire from.

Civilians

In Israel During the conflict, life in much of southern Israel was paralyzed by Hamas rocket and mortar fire. According to HRW, during the Gaza War, rocket attacks placed up to 800,000 Israeli civilians within range of attack.

During the war, rockets reached major Israeli cities Ashdod, Beersheba and Gedera for the first time, putting one-eighth of Israel's population in rocket range. As of January 13, 2009, Palestinian militants had launched approximately 565 rockets and 200 mortars at Israel since the beginning of the conflict, according to Israeli security sources.Yair Yanga, "Shin Bet: Some 565 rockets, 200 mortar shells fired at Israel since start of Gaza op" , Ha'aretz 13-01-2009

Besides the rockets fired by the Qassam Brigades of Hamas, other factions claimed responsibility for rockets fired into Israel and attacks on Israeli soldiers, including Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (affiliated with Fatah), the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades (armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), the Quds Brigades and the Popular Resistance Councils. A Fatah official stated that the rocket attacks by his faction contradicted the official position of Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah leader and President of the Palestinian National Authority. Abbas had called on all sides to cease hostilities unconditionally.

Militants fired over 750 rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel during the conflict. Bersheeba and Gedera were the furthest areas hit by rocket or mortars. The rockets killed three civilians and one IDF soldier and wounded 182 people, with another 584 people suffering from shock and anxiety syndrome. The rockets also caused property damage, including damage to three schools.ynetnews Rocket barrages hit Beersheba, Ashkelon; 5 lightly hurt , December 31, 2008Rockets reach Beersheba, cause damage , YNET, December 30, 2008.Rocket lands near Ashdod kindergarten; no injuries , YNET, January 11, 2009. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar stated during the operation "they [Israeli forces] shelled everyone in Gaza.... They shelled children and hospitals and mosques, ... and in doing so, they gave us legitimacy to strike them in the same way." Human Rights Watch noted in the open letter to Ismail Haniyeh that despite his Foreign Ministry stance as part of response to the Goldstone Report, Palestinian armed groups remain responsible for firing rockets indiscriminately or deliberately at Israeli civilian objects. HRW also noted that Palestinian militants put Palestinian civilians at risk of Israeli counter-attacks by launching rockets from populated areas.

In the Gaza Strip BBC News stated on January 14 that the agency and the Israeli human rights group B'tselem have received claims from Gaza civilians that IDF forces fired on Gaza residents trying to escape the area. Israel has strongly denied the allegations, and dismissed B'tselem's report as "without foundation". The BBC reported speaking to members of a family who say they were shot at as they tried to leave to replenish dwindling water and food supplies during the three-hour humanitarian lull. It also mentioned allegations of the targeted killing of women, the elderly, and children trying to flee the conflict. B'tselem has been unable to corroborate the testimonies it had received.Israelis "shot at fleeing Gazans". BBC News. Published 14 January 2009.

On January 16, Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish, an Israeli-trained Palestinian doctor of Gaza, and regular figure on Israel's Channel 10 where he reported on the medical crisis, broke down when contacted for his nightly report by informing viewers that he had just lost three daughters and a niece in the fighting, prompting numerous calls of concern to the station from people who know him. Two surviving daughters were transported for treatment of their wounds to Tel Ha-Shomer Hospital in Tel Aviv.haaretz.com ‘Israeli-trained Gaza doctor loses three daughters and niece to IDF tank shell,’ Haaretz 17/01/2009Martin Fletcher and Sheera Frenkel, 'Gaza war 'in final act' as ceasefire looms', The Times, 17/01/2009 The Israeli army's investigation, approved by Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, stated that an IDF tank fired two shells at the house after suspicious figures were seen on the upper level of the doctor's home. The doctor has questioned part of the IDF report, saying his home is located in "Jebaliya, northeast of Gaza City, not in the Gaza City neighborhood of Sajaiyeh; there was no firing from his house; and he saw no pamphlets with Israeli warnings to evacuate that the military said it dropped." The Israeli army "could not be reached for an explanation (of the) discrepancies from their written statement." The British Army veteran Colonel Tim Collins visited the site of the incident. He said that from the spot the tank fired, no clear-cut target was visible. He added that the shot was questionable, but at the same time he understands how Israeli troops, situated at the inferior position, could have felt threatened in the middle of the battle.Celebrated Iraq war veteran's view of the Gaza conflict BBC News, January 20, 2010, 7:00-9:12 segment

The use of Palestinian children as human shields by Israeli forces during the conflict has been reported.

Israeli schools

Palestinian rockets landed on Israeli educational facilities several times during the conflict.IDF: Rocket that hit Beersheba school made in China . By Yael Barnovsky. Ynet News. Published December 31, 2008.Abe Selig, "School closure saves lives of pupils" , Jerusalem Post 31-12-20094 troops hurt in mortar attack; Grad hits Ashkelon school . By Shmulik Hadad. Ynet News. Published January 8, 2009.

During the war, a Hamas rocket hit an Israeli kindergarten in Beersheba, causing damage to the building and to a nearby house. Dozens of people were treated for shock. In another case, a rocket landed in an Israeli elementary school in Beersheba, causing severe damage was caused to the structure. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. A Qassam rocket hit another school in Ashkelon, destroying classrooms and injuring two people.