Israeli Strikes in Gaza Not Aimed at Any Legitimate Target

Human Rights Watch has issued a new report today faulting Israel’s November attack on the Gaza Strip, saying that 18 separate air strikes appeared to violate international law about indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks.

Of the 18 strikes, Human Rights Watch found 14 of the strikes were launched at no apparent military targets, seemingly just randomly into the strip and killing civilians. Seven of these strikes were drone strikes.

The Israeli military announced last week that it has launched investigations into killing 70 civilians over the course of the weeklong war. Several of the strikes killed journalists, which Israel argued at the time were “terrorists” and legitimate targets because their news outlet is state-run.

The Israeli military faulted the Human Rights Watch report, noting their investigations are ongoing and calling it “regrettable” that anyone would fault the attacks before the internal probes were finished.