More Palestinian civilians have died as a result of the conflict with Israel in 2014 than in any year since 1967, according to a UN report which called for restraint on both sides.
The report, published by the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Thursday, notes that due to summer 2014 hostilities in the Gaza
Strip known as Operation Protective Edge more than 2,220
Palestinians, including 1,492 civilians lost their lives.
A total of 513 children were among the dead, the report notes.
In what the report called the “worst escalation of
hostilities” since the Six-Day War in 1967, 71 Israelis were
also killed, 66 of whom were soldiers.
The OCHA urged both sides to follow international law during
future spikes in hostilities to minimize or avoid civilian
casualties.
“All parties to the conflict… must fulfill their legal
obligations to conduct hostilities in accordance with
international law to ensure the protection of all civilians and
to ensure accountability for acts committed,” it said.
In addition, the report notes that Gaza witnessed a huge spike in
internal displacement, with 500,000 people displaced at the
height of last summer’s hostilities. Some 100,000 people remain
displaced throughout Gaza.
Violence and fatalities in the West Bank including East Jerusalem
also surged this year. According to the report, Palestinian
fatalities involving Israeli security forces were at their
highest since 2007. In total, the West Bank witnessed 58
Palestinian fatalities in 2014, compared to 28 the previous year.
The report suggested that Palestinian armed groups “refrain
from the indiscriminate firing of rockets and other projectiles
at Israel,” and that Israel also “refrain from launching
attacks.”
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MORE: ‘Devastating Israeli attacks’ on Gaza don’t justify
violations by Hamas – Amnesty
Meanwhile an Amnesty International report also published Thursday
lambasted Palestinian armed groups for their “flagrant
disregard” for the lives of Israeli civilians, specifically
calling out of the violence of Hamas, who are in control of the
Gaza Strip.
The report says, however, that the fact that they “appear to
have carried out war crimes by firing indiscriminate rockets and
mortars does not absolve the Israeli forces from their
obligations.”
Israel took control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the
1967 war, and proceeded to build settlements in the captured
territory, which have been deemed an illegal occupation by the
international community.