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Beinish. 'Humanitarian issue constantly monitored'
Photo: Gil Yohanan

High Court: Mistakes happen during war

Judges discuss human rights organizations' petition against damage caused to ambulances, water and electricity infrastructures in Gaza, say 'IDF fires after spotting gunmen or by mistake'

The Israel Defense Forces fires on ambulances or international compounds by mistake or after spotting gunmen staying in the facilities, the High Court of Justice said Thursday while discussing a petition filed by human rights organizations against the Israeli operation in Gaza.

 

Justice Asher Grunis said, "If our forces fired on our forces accidentally, mistakes can happen during war."

 

Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish said, "The situation is pretty complicated. There's no dispute over the fact that the State would like to make the evacuation of the injured and the transfer of fuel for industrial diesel oil possible, but the conditions are far from that. From what we've heard today, the humanitarian issue is constantly monitored and the IDF's representatives are directly informed."

 

Judge Elyakim Rubinstein joined his colleagues by noting that "the State of Israel and the IDF would be insane to intentionally fire at ambulances and medical teams. The firing apparently takes place by mistake or when the IDF spots gunmen inside ambulances or in international compounds."

 

The human rights groups claimed in their petition that the IDF was damaging the Gaza Strip's water and electricity infrastructures, hitting ambulances and preventing the evacuation of injured people.

 

A representative for the Gisha association said during the discussion that "the situation in the Gaza Strip is very different from the way it's represented" and "the IDF said it has marked all the UNWRA facilities, but this apparently didn't include the facility bombed today."

 

"There's no doubt that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is not at all simple and that the civilian population is suffering, but the situation is complicated because, as opposed to the past, we are outside the Strip and do not control it," said Anar Helman of the State Prosecutor's Office.

 

Colonel Moshe Levy, head of the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, said that Hamas was "not interested in transferring injured people to Israel despite our appeals and readiness to do so."

 

Addressing the bombings of the Red Cross hospital and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency building, Levy said that IDF forces were fired on from the two facilities, including with antitank missiles.

 

According to Levy, in the past two weeks the IDF allowed 25 ambulances to enter Gaza, and some of the convoys had crossed into the Strip through Egypt without being checked.

 

The High Court instructed the State to submit its response to the various comments in the human rights organization's petition within four days.

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.15.09, 21:12
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