The youngest to die was a 4-day-old girl, the oldest a 92-year-old man.
They were among at least 844 Palestinians killed as a result of airstrikes on homes during Israel’s summer war with the Islamic militant group, Hamas.
Under the rules of war, homes are considered protected civilian sites unless used for military purposes. Israel says it attacked only legitimate targets, alleging militants used the houses to hide weapons, fighters and command centers. Palestinians say Israel’s warplanes often struck without regard for civilians.
The Associated Press examined 247 airstrikes that — according to witness accounts and site visits — hit residential compounds, out of the some 5,000 Israeli strikes during the conflict. Its reporters compiled a detailed casualty count, determining 844 dead in those strikes.
The review found that 508 of those dead — just over 60 percent — were children, women and older men, all presumed to be civilians. Hamas says it did not use women as fighters in the war, and an Israel-based research group tracking militants among the dead said it has no evidence women participated in combat.
The AP count also showed that:
— Children younger than 16 made up one-third of the total: 280 killed, including 19 babies and 108 preschoolers between the ages of 1 and 5.
— In 83 strikes, three or more members of one family died.
— Among those killed were 96 confirmed or suspected militants — or just over 11 percent of the total — though the actual number could be higher since armed groups have not released detailed casualty lists.
— The remaining 240 dead were males between the ages of 16 and 59 whose names did not appear in connection with militant groups on searches of websites or on street posters honoring fighters.
The review was the most painstaking attempt to date to determine who was killed in strikes on homes in the Gaza war, even as Israel’s army and Gaza militants have refused to release information about targets and casualties. The count tracked all known airstrikes, but not all strikes had witnesses and damage at sites inspected by the AP wasn’t always conclusive.
–
They allow for attacking a home if it is used for military purposes, such as storing weapons. If a home is deemed a legitimate target, harm to civilians must be proportionate to the military advantage created by an attack. Proportionality is judged by anticipated, not actual civilian deaths, and there is no formula for what is deemed excessive harm to civilians, international law experts said.
In the Gaza strikes, a key piece of information has been missing: What exactly was targeted? Both Israel and Gaza militant groups have withheld such information.
Israel says revealing targets could harm intelligence-gathering, and legal experts say armies are not required to give such information.
Human rights groups said Israel must be more transparent.
“In these specific attacks, the onus is on the Israeli authorities to come clean and say what it was they were targeting, and how it was they could justify targeting a house full of children and other civilians,” said Philip Luther of Amnesty International, which has looked into eight house attacks and alleged some amounted to war crimes.
The legal aftermath of the war is bound to be complicated.
In addition to the preliminary examination by the ICC prosecutor, the U.N. Human Rights Council formed a commission of inquiry, but Israel has said it won’t cooperate with the team, alleging anti-Israel bias. Israel is cooperating with a second U.N. investigation into deaths, injuries and damage to U.N. premises, as well as the discovery of militant weapons in some vacant U.N. schools.
The Israeli military said it has bolstered its system of internal investigations, adding teams of senior officers outside the chain of command. It has launched 13 criminal investigations and closed nine cases after finding no wrongdoing, while 85 other complaints about what it calls “exceptional incidents” are still under review.
One criminal probe involves a strike that apparently targeted a commander in the Hamas military wing but also killed 24 members of the Abu Jamea family, including 18 children between 6 months and 9 years old, according to death certificates.
The military said it found “reasonable suspicion” of a deviation from approved procedure, but did not name the target.
In two other attacks on homes, an initial review found no fault, the military said.
