Comprehensive Report on the Israeli Military Offensive against the Gaza Strip

Gaza, September 8, 2009, (Pal Telegraph)-The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) today published ‘Targeted Civilians' a comprehensive report on the latest Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip (27 December 2008 - 18 January 2009). The report is the result of extensive investigations, and documents numerous war crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) over the course of the offensive. The Arabic version of the report is available here. An English version of the report will be available next week.

PCHR has already published a number of reports on war crimes committed by IOF against Palestinian civilians and their property. On 14 July 2009, PCHR published "Impacts of the Israeli Military Offensive on Water and Sewage Services in the Gaza Strip. On 14 May 2009, PCHR published, "War Crimes against Children: Report on the 313 Children Killed during Gaza Offensive." During the period of the offensive, PCHR published two reports: "The Aggravation of Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza strip as IOF Offensive Continues," published on 3 January 2009; and "Report on Attacks by IOF against Palestinian Medical Personnel during the Military Offensive against the Gaza Strip," published on 13 January 2009. PCHR is currently finalizing a report on the gender-specific impact and consequences of the offensive.

According to PCHR's documentation, 1,419 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip. This number includes 1,167 non-combatants (82.2%) and 252 resistance activists (17.8%). The non-combatants include civilians and civil police officers who were not involved in hostilities, the protected persons of international humanitarian law. Investigations conducted by PCHR indicate that 918 civilians were killed (64.7% of the total number of victims). The civilian victims include 318 children (22.4 % of the total number of victims and 34.7% of the number of civilian victims) and 111 women (7.8% of the total number of victims and 12.1% of the number of civilian victims). According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least 5,300 Palestinian were wounded during the offensive. This number includes at least 1,600 children (30%) and 830 women (15.6%); at least 2,430 children and women were wounded, 45.6% of the total wounded.

According to PCHR's documentation, IOF completely destroyed 2,114 houses (2864 housing units) affecting 3,314 families (19,592 individuals). They also partially destroyed 3,242 houses, (5,014 housing units) affecting 5,470 families (32,250 individuals). A further 16,000 houses at least sustained various degrees of damages as a result of bombardment and destruction, including the burning of dozens of houses in different areas. Approximately 51,453 individuals were made homeless.