Gaza beach bombing that killed four boys was legal, says Israeli army

[Jefferson23]

**Shameful is an understatement


The killing of four boys on a beach in Gaza during summer 2014 was ruled as having met Israel's laws by a military tribunal


MEE staff
Thursday 11 June 2015 21:29 BST
Last update:
Thursday 11 June 2015 21:35 BST


An Israeli airstrike targeting Gaza killed 4 Palestinian children playing on the beach (AA)

Israel announced on Thursday that no criminal charges will brought against members of its army responsible for the deadly attack last summer on a Gaza beach that killed four boys from the same family.

Ahed Atef Bakr, 10, Zakariya Ahed Bakr, 10, Mohammad Ramiz Bakr, 11, and Ismail Mahmoud Bakr, 9, were killed on 16 July when Israeli forces shelled a beachfront in the Gaza Strip.

It was one of the defining moments of the 50-day Israeli assault on Gaza, which saw some 2,220 Palestinians killed, mostly civilians, as well as 72 Israelis, who were mostly soldiers.

The boys were killed in full view of a hotel filled with foreign correspondents reporting on the conflict, which led to harrowing first-hand accounts of the attack, one of the most poignant of which came from the Guardian’s Peter Beaumont.


in full: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-concludes-deadly-gaza-beach-bombing-was-legal-894438693

10 Human Rights Organizations in an Urgent Letter to Attorney General: Concerns Regarding Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law in the IDF's Operations in Gaza

Published:
21 Jul 2014

http://www.btselem.org/press_release/20140721_joint_statement_on_gaza

[oberliner]

1. What did the investigation find?

Is there a link to more information on their findings?

[guillaumeb]

2. The IDF investigates the IDF and finds, no surprise here, that the IDF acted correctly.

Also from the link:
"On Thursday, after conducting an internal investigation, Israeli army spokesperson Peter Lerner released a statement on Facebook that said the army had broken no laws by killing the boys.“After reviewing the investigation's findings, the Military Advocate General found that the attack process in question accorded with Israeli domestic law and international law requirements,” read the statement, which said that the beach the boys were playing hide and seek on had been used by Hamas fighters to launch rockets at Israel. "

My take:
International Law is quite clear about targeting civilians. But terrorists in uniforms investigated other terrorists in uniforms and decided that the terrorist acts were not, in fact, terrorism. What amount of media coverage would there be if 4 Israeli brothers were killed by a Palestinian fired rocket?

[Jefferson23]

3. Yes, I agree but they'll never pay a legal price high enough to think twice next time. n/t

[oberliner]

4. As long as Hamas doesn't shoot any rockets at Israel there won't be a next time

They ought to maybe hold an election. It's been, what, 10 years now?

[azurnoir]

5. Israel claims the beachfront was a Hamas base and therefore anyone especially

running figures were pretty much fair game

http://www.lawfareblog.com/results-investigation-four-children-killed-gaza-beach

sad to see anyone justify the indiscriminate killing of children

[Jefferson23]

6. It is what their enablers do best..thanks for the link. n/t

[azurnoir]

11. well they've only had 11 months to fit the story of the attack to the law

Last edited Sat Jun 13, 2015, 01:34 PM - Edit history (1)

[Jefferson23]

13. So true..you're right. n/t

[Little Tich]

7. I wonder if the IDF is actually aware that Gaza is a densely populated area?

And more importantly, how did they positively identify the children as combatants?

Ugh.

[Jefferson23]

8. Family furious as Israel probe clears military in Gaza beach deaths

GAZA CITY (AFP) -- The family of four Palestinian children killed when Israel bombed a beach during last summer's Gaza war were indignant Friday over the closure of a probe into the incident.

The Israeli army, which launched the investigation after the 50-day July-August war ended, announced late Thursday that the "tragic" attack witnessed by several foreign journalists had not violated international law, and said it was closing the case.

It was one of the most widely covered and controversial incidents of the war, taking place in full view of international media, including AFP correspondents, who were sitting outdoors very close to the beach at the time of the attack.

"Israel behaves as if it's a country above international law," Zakariya Bakr, the uncle of the children who died, told AFP.

"It's not unusual for the occupation (Israel), which shells houses with their occupants inside them, and kills children, to declare its soldiers innocent.

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765930

[bemildred]

9. The most "legal" Army in the World. nt

[Jefferson23]

10. Exactly.n/t

[oberliner]

12. OK - I've just read the IDF report

It is not acceptable.

Even if everything they are saying is 100 percent the truth, it is still not acceptable.

This is the issue that I brought up earlier. You can't have an 'oh well' attitude with respect to accidentally killing children.

If you have a surveillance system in place that cannot distinguish between a Hamas militant launching an attack and a nine year old child playing, then you need to get a better surveillance system.