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An Israeli human rights group says more than half of almost 1,400 Palestinians killed in Israel's Gaza war were civilians, which include more than 250 children under 16.

The B'Tselem group says its figures were compiled after months of research, checking and cross checking, and visits to victims' families. It said its findings should compel the Israeli government to order an independent investigation into its punishing three-week offensive last winter.

Although the Palestinian Center for Human Rights has expressed concern that B'Tselem's figures are far less than the actual death figure, the Israeli human rights group says the casualties are heavy enough to require serious introspection by Israeli society.

Palestinians mourn the death of a relative killed during Israeli

strikes, at a local cemetery in Gaza City in January 2009. Israel's

Gaza offensive killed 1,387 Palestinians, with more than half of them,

including 320 minors, not having taken part in the fighting, an Israeli

human rights group has said.(AFP/File/Mahmud Hams)

Editor: Du Xiaodan | Source: CCTV.com