In O7 the number of Palestinians killed by Israel dropped 43% The Palestinians killed 344 of their own including many children which almost equaled the amount attributed to the IDF . I am sure many that are blamed on Israel is their own handi work too. We also see for Israel they counted in the Civilians some of whom were not so innocent.
Hamas, IJ and all the other Jihad groups are responsible for most of the civilian deaths under international law. They hide behind civilians to fire their rockets and use civilians as human shields. When Israel is wrong and excessive it should be taken to task but at the same time it is ridiculous to blame Israel for those killed due to the terrorist using human shields unless Israel uses excessive un targeted force such as carpet bombing a city block. Shooting a guided missile to a terrorist target actively attacking is not excessive force even when civilians are killed.
Study: Number of Palestinians killed by IDF dropped 43% in '07
The number of Palestinians killed by the Israel Defense Forces in 2007 decreased by 43 percent since last year, to 373, but the total number of Palestinians killed this year reached a record high because of the 344 Palestinians killed in the internecine conflict, the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said in its year-end report.
The report also found a significant drop in the proportion of civilians killed, which decreased from 54 percent of the 657 Palestinians killed by IDF fire in 2006 to 35 percent of the 373 Palestinians killed between January 1 and December 29 of this year.
fifty-three of the Palestinians were minors(including those participating in hostilities) and the vast majority(civilians and non civilians) - 270 - were killed in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/940067.htmlReport counts drop in Israeli and Palestinian fatalities in 2007
JERUSALEM -- The number of people killed in Israeli-Palestinian violence dropped dramatically in 2007, according to a report from an Israeli human rights group released Monday.
Israeli forces killed 373 Palestinians during 2007, a 45 percent drop from the previous year, said the report from the group, B'Tselem. Palestinians killed 13 Israelis in the same period, the lowest number of Israeli fatalities since the renewed outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting seven years ago, the report said.
snip
Of the Palestinians killed this year, 131 were not engaged in fighting at the time of their death, according to the report. That number includes bystanders, militants killed during arrest raids, Palestinians killed trying to infiltrate Israel from Gaza, and armed members of Palestinian security forces who were not actively involved in hostilities when they were killed.(we see that even of the so called civilians many were not really civilians)
Most of the Palestinian dead were killed in Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamic group Hamas, where troops regularly clash with militants firing rockets into Israel. A minority were killed in the West Bank, where a moderate government led by Abbas has begun negotiating a peace agreement with Israel.
While Israeli-Palestinian violence subsided somewhat, internal Palestinian fighting this year took its highest toll ever, the report said. At least 344 Palestinians were killed by other Palestinians in 2007, nearly all of them in Gaza during the first half of the year.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/12/31/news/nation/17_49_0912_30_07.txt The number of Palestinians killed in intra-Palestinian clashes was the highest throughout the Intifada.
In intra-Palestinian fighting, at least 344 persons were killed, almost all in the Gaza Strip in the first six months of the year. At least 73 of the dead, among them 22 minors, were not taking part in the fighting. A comparison between 2007 and 2006 reveals a decrease in Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, and a decrease in those cases that raise the suspicion of arbitrary killing. However, the figures for 2007 still give cause for concern.
In 2007 (up to 29 December), Israeli security forces killed 373 Palestinians (290 in Gaza , 83 in the West Bank ), 53 among them minors. By comparison, in 2006, 657 Palestinians were killed, including 140 minors: 523 in Gaza , 134 in the West Bank . In 2007, about 35 percent of those killed were civilians who were not taking part in the hostilities when killed. This is a reduction in comparison with the number of casualties who did not participate in the hostilities in 2006, which was 54 percent, (348 persons).
Palestinians killed seven Israeli civilians (three in a suicide attack in Eilat, two in Sderot by Qassam attacks, and two by gunfire in the West Bank ). This is the lowest number of Israeli civilian casualties since the beginning of the Intifada. Palestinians also killed six Israeli security forces. In 2006, Palestinians killed 17 Israeli civilians.
http://www.btselem.org/English/index.aspThe Palestinian organizations responsible for the rocket fire state openly that one of their aims is to strike, inter alia, Israeli civilians. Deliberate attacks on civilians are both immoral and illegal. The willful killing of civilians is classified as a grave breach in the Fourth Geneva Convention and as a war crime, and is unjustifiable under any circumstances. Furthermore, Qassam rockets are themselves illegal, even when aimed at military objects, because the rockets are so imprecise, and thus endanger civilians situated in the area in which the rockets are fired or where they land, in violation of the principles of distinction and proportionality, which are fundamental pillars of the laws of war.
Many of the rockets are fired from, or near, areas in which civilians live. International humanitarian law (IHL) prohibits attacks from inside or near the homes of civilians, and from using civilians as human shields. IHL's objective is to reduce to a minimum injury to civilians during an anticipated military response by the other side. The Palestinian organizations that carry out the attacks against Israel from within or near a populated area breach this rule; in doing so, the organizations show their indifference to the loss of both Israeli and Palestinian lives.
The Palestinian Authority must do everything it can to cease the Qassam rocket fire, and the Palestinian organizations must cease attacks aimed at civilians, in particular when they are carried out from populated Palestinian areas. By failing to take any action to stop the rocket fire from residential communities, the Palestinian Authority breaches its duty to protect the residents of those areas who are not taking part in the hostilities.
snip
Israel has the right, and even the obligation, to protect its citizens from the attacks. However, in doing so, it must comply with IHL. The laws of war require the sides to direct their attacks only against specific military objects, to take cautionary measures to prevent injury to civilians, and to refrain from acts that are likely to cause incidental loss of civilian lives, when the loss is excessive in relation to the military advantage anticipated.
http://www.btselem.org/english/Israeli_Civilians/Qassam_missiles.asp
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