A newly released Amnesty International report finds that Israel indiscriminately and deliberately targeted civilians during "Black Friday", a particularly brutal assault on Rafah which lasted four days (1^st - 4^th of August 2014) and claimed the lives of more than 200 civilians, including 135– of which 75 were children- in the first day alone.

The report speaks of strong evidence that Israeli forces, in their relentless and massive bombardment of residential areas of Rafah, committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity, and displayed a shocking disregard for civilian lives.

The report comes as the fruit of a joint study by Amnesty International and Forensic Architecture, and it relies on hundreds of videos, photos and satellite images which were analyzed and cross-referenced with eyewitness testimony.

Hannibal Directive: A procedure for revenge

On August 1^st, Israel announced one of its soldiers to be missing east of Rafah, following which the district came under intense attacks from the ground, sea and air in accordance with the notorious Hannibal directive, a procedure by which Israeli forces are to thwart or retaliate to the alleged capture of a soldier with intense firepower- regardless the risks to his life or to civilians in the vicinity. 

According to the report of an Israeli military inquiry, more than 2,000 bombs, missiles and shells were fired in Rafah during 1 August, including 1,000 in the three hours following the alleged capture. More than 200 Palestinians were killed, most of them on the first day. By 3 August, more than 2500 houses in the city had been completely or partially destroyed.

After concluding the attacks, the missing Israeli commander was pronounced dead, and the Israeli army issued a statement saying that “’findings in the field’ were such that it could be established that Goldin was dead.

So why were such massive attacks undertaken?

Amnesty’s report answers.

“Public statements by Israeli army commanders and soldiers after the conflict provide compelling reasons to conclude that some attacks that killed civilians and destroyed homes and property were intentionally carried out and motivated by a desire for revenge – to teach a lesson to, or punish, the population of Rafah for the capture of the Israeli occupation Lieutenant Goldin. There is consequently strong evidence that many such attacks in Rafah between 1 and 4 August were serious violations of international humanitarian law and constituted grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention or other war crimes.” The report stated.

“The ferocity of the attack on Rafah shows the extreme measures Israeli forces were prepared to take to prevent the capture alive of one soldier – scores of Palestinian civilian lives were sacrificed for this single aim,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

Direct attacks on protected sites

The report describes the direct and lethal targeting of Rafah hospitals and clinics, including Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital, Rafah’s main medical center, where a doctor described how frantic patients fled the building after attacks on the area intensified, some of them wheeled out on beds, many with intravenous drips still attached.

It also details how an ambulance carrying a wounded old man, woman and three children was struck by a drone-fired missile, setting it alight and burning everyone inside including medical workers to death. Jaber Darabih, a paramedic who arrived at the scene, described the charred remains of bodies with “no legs, no hands… severely burned”. Tragically, he later discovered that his own son, a volunteer paramedic was among those killed in the ambulance.

“By attacking ambulances and striking near hospitals, Israel's army displayed a flagrant disregard for the laws of war. Deliberately attacking health facilities and medical professionals amounts to war crimes,” said Philip Luther, adding that “[The] report’s findings add compelling evidence to an already large body of credible documentation of serious violations during the Gaza conflict, which demand independent, impartial and effective investigations.”

Questions of accountability?

“This report presents an urgent call for justice that must not be ignored. The combined analysis of hundreds of photos and videos, as well as satellite imagery and testimony from eyewitnesses, provides compelling evidence of serious violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli forces which must be investigated.” Says Amnesty.

Hamas said in a statement  issued on Wednesday that the conclusive evidence included in the report requires immediate submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC), prosecution of Israeli leaders for this heinous war crimes and protection of the Palestinian people.  

The international community including international human rights organizations must shoulder their legal, political and moral responsibility for holding Israeli accountable for its war crimes against a defenseless population. Failing to do so raises serious questions about their commitment to the enforcement of international law and their respect for the values they purport to defend. Letting Israel get away with yet another war crime will send the wrong signal to the Israeli occupation state that it can continue carrying its crimes with shameful impunity. The Palestinian people, for their part, still hold to their only choice to defend their rights and struggle for justice and freedom.