Israeli airstrikes on four multi-storey buildings towards the end of its 50-day military assault on Gaza this summer amounted to war crimes, rights group Amnesty International has said.<\/p>\n
A new report released by the London-based rights organisation on Tuesday claimed that the attacks on the civilian buildings on the last four days of the war were deliberate.<\/p>\n
The group called for an independent probe in these four cases.<\/p>\n
“All the evidence we have shows this large-scale destruction was carried out deliberately and with no military justification,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.<\/p>\n
“Both the facts on the ground and statements made by Israeli military spokespeople at the time indicate that the attacks were a collective punishment against the people of Gaza and were designed to destroy their already precarious livelihoods.”<\/p>\n
The group also said that although the Israeli military had warned residents of the buildings to leave before they were destroyed, a number of people from nearby buildings were injured.<\/p>\n
Israel used controversial techniques, including distributing leaflets and “roof-knocking” – where a small missile strikes the roof of a building as a warning for the residents to leave – before airstrikes level the building.<\/p>\n