A Press Statement      

On the ''Israeli'' Report Regarding the 2014 Aggression on Gaza

The Islamic resistance movement-Hamas strongly condemns the report issued by the "Israeli'' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which justifies the atrocities and crimes against humanity that the ''Israeli'' Occupation Forces (IOF) committed during the 51-day long brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip in 2014.

The report entirely contradicts  the findings of independent international reports such as the Goldstone report, as the report seeks to:

- Justify and legalize the war crimes IOF committed against Gaza, including murder and destruction. This justification is worse than the crime itself and demonstrates that ''Israel'' intends to continue such policy against the Palestinian people.

- Make a media fanfare before United Nations Human Rights Council is set to release results of its own inquiry (William Schabas Committee), with the  intent to mislead the international justice.

Therefore, Hamas Stresses on the following:

• The report manipulates figures as it claims 44% of martyrs during the aggression were resistance freedom fighters, which is basically untrue as fighters rate among the victims is only 20% and since the names of civilian and militant victims are known and well documented. The report considers every Palestinian adult as a fighter and  deliberately ignores civilians.  ''Israel'' does not recognize Palestinians as civilian people who have the right to life, and deems every Palestinian as a terrorist who deserves to be killed.
• The ''Israeli'' occupation attempts to hold the Palestinian resistance responsible for deaths of civilians. It claims that Hamas uses civilian people as human shields and prevents them from fleeing combat zones, which is an utter lie. This allegation contradicts with the testimonies of neutral international bodies, as well as with the testimonies of ''Israeli'' soldiers affiliated to the ''Israeli'' organization of Breaking the Silence, where they confessed the IOF committed war crimes against Palestinian civilians. Illustratively, while being interviewed by Media on July 30, 2014, UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness sobbed over the Palestinian plight as civilians had no safe place to shelter in where IOF bombed even the shelters UNRWA provided in coordination with the ''Israeli'' army.
• The ''Israeli'' occupation claims the Palestinian resistance targeted ''Israeli'' civilians using  missiles and tunnels which is completely untrue. According to the ''Israeli'' figures, 72 ''Israelis'' were killed throughout the 51-day long aggression on Gaza. Out of those killed, only four were civilians, and 68 were soldiers. The ''Israeli'' civilians were mistakenly killed by the resistance's modest weaponry, where on the other side, IOF used highly advanced bombs and guided missiles to kill more than 2000 Palestinian civilians.
• Hamas used tunnels against specific military sites only, although the Palestinian  freedom fighters were able to use such tunnels against civilians which they did not. Moreover, IOF provided no proof of such fabricated claims.

As a result, the fabricated-content report disregards the  international humanitarian law  and interprets it according to the ''Israeli'' perspective. More egregiously is Netanyahu's claims that IOF were committed to more than what the international law implies.

Hamas hereby calls on the international community not to consider the ''Israeli'' fabricated report. Hamas demands to hold the ''Israeli'' criminal  leaders accountable for the war crimes they committed, according to the International Independent reports.

The Islamic Resistance Movement- Hamas

June 15, 2015