Goldstone Report

The Occupied Palestinian Territory: the Gaza Strip
1. The Blockade

27. The Mission focussed (Chapter V) on the process of economic and political isolation imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, generally referred to as a “blockade”. The blockadecomprises measures such as restrictions on the goods that can be imported into Gaza and the
closure of border crossings for people, goods and services, sometimes for days, including cuts onthe provision of fuel and electricity. Gaza’s economy is further severely affected by the reductionof the fishing zone open to the Palestinian fishermen and the establishment of a “buffer zone”along the border between Gaza and Israel which reduces the land available for agriculture and industrial activity. In addition to creating an emergency situation, the blockade significantlyweakened the capacities of the population and of the health, water and other public sectors toreact to the emergency created by the military operations.

28. The Mission holds the view that Israel continues to be duty-bound under the Fourth Geneva Convention and to the full extent of the means available to it to ensure the supply of foodstuff,
medical and hospital items and others to meet the humanitarian needs of the population of the
Gaza Strip without qualification.

2. Overview of Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip and casualties

29. Israel deployed its navy, air force and army in the operation it codenamed “Operation Cast
Lead”. The military operations in the Gaza Strip included two main phases, the air phase and the
air-land phase, and lasted from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009. The Israeli offensive
began with a week-long air attack, from 27 December until 3 January 2009. The air force
continued to play an important role in assisting and covering the ground forces from 3 January to
18 January 2009. The army was responsible for the ground invasion, which began on 3 January
2009 when ground troops entered Gaza from the north and from the east. The available
information indicates that the Golani, Givati and Paratrooper Brigades and five Armoured Corps
Brigades were involved. The navy was used in part to shell the Gaza coast during the operations.
Chapter VI also locates the incidents investigated by the Mission, described in Chapters VII to
XV, in the context of the military operations.

30. Statistics about Palestinians who lost their life during the military operations vary. Based on
extensive field research, non-governmental organizations place the overall number of persons
killed between 1,387 and 1,417. The Gaza authorities report 1,444 fatal casualties. The
Government of Israel provides a figure of 1,166. The data provided by non-governmental
sources with regard to the percentage of civilians among those killed are generally consistent and

raise very serious concerns with regard to the way Israel conducted the military operations in
Gaza.

31. According to the Government of Israel, during the military operations there were 4 Israeli
fatal casualties in southern Israel, of whom 3 were civilians and one soldier, killed by rockets
and mortars attacks by Palestinian armed groups. In addition, 9 Israeli soldiers were killed during
the fighting inside the Gaza strip, 4 of whom as a result of friendly fire.
3. Attacks by Israeli forces on government buildings and persons of the Gaza authorities,
including police

32. Israeli armed forces launched numerous attacks against buildings and persons of the Gaza
authorities. As far as attacks on buildings are concerned, the Mission examined the Israeli strikes
against the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Gaza main prison (Chapter VII). Both
buildings were destroyed to an extent that puts them out of use. Statements by Israeli
Government and armed forces representatives justified the attacks arguing that political and
administrative institutions in Gaza are part of the “Hamas terrorist infrastructure”. The Mission
rejects this position. It finds that there is no evidence that the Legislative Council building and
the Gaza main prison made an effective contribution to military action. On the information
available to it, the Mission finds that the attacks on these buildings constituted deliberate attacks
on civilian objects in violation of the rule of customary international humanitarian law whereby
attacks must be strictly limited to military objectives. These facts further indicate the
commission of the grave breach of extensive destruction of property, not justified by military
necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.

33. The Mission examined the attacks against six police facilities, four of them during the first
minutes of the military operations on 27 December 2008, resulting in the death of 99 policemen
and nine members of the public. The overall around 240 policemen killed by Israeli forces
constitute more than one sixth of the Palestinian casualties. The circumstances of the attacks and
the Government of Israel July 2009 report on the military operations clarify that the policemen
were deliberately targeted and killed on the ground that the police as an institution, or a large
part of the policemen individually, are in the Government of Israel’s view part of the Palestinian
military forces in Gaza.

34. To examine whether the attacks against the police were compatible with the principle of
distinction between civilian and military objects and persons, the Mission analysed the
institutional development of the Gaza police since Hamas took complete control of Gaza in July
2007 and merged the Gaza police with the “Executive Force” it had created after its election
victory. The Mission finds that, while a great number of the Gaza policemen were recruited
among Hamas supporters or members of Palestinian armed groups, the Gaza police were a
civilian law-enforcement agency. The Mission also concludes that the policemen killed on 27
December 2008 cannot be said to have been taking a direct part in hostilities and thus did not
lose their civilian immunity from direct attack as civilians on this ground. The Mission accepts
that there may be individual members of the Gaza police that were at the same time members of
Palestinian armed groups and thus combatants. It concludes, however, that the attacks against the
police facilities on the first day of the armed operations failed to strike an acceptable balance
between the direct military advantage anticipated (i.e. the killing of those policemen who may
have been members of Palestinian armed groups) and the loss of civilian life (i.e. the other
policemen killed and members of the public who would inevitably have been present or in the
vicinity), and therefore violated international humanitarian law.4. Obligation to take feasible precautions to protect civilian population and objects by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza

35. The Mission examined whether and to what extent the Palestinian armed groups violated
their obligation to exercise care and take feasible precautions to protect the civilian population in
Gaza from the inherent dangers of the military operations (Chapter VIII). The Mission was faced
with a certain reluctance by the persons it interviewed in Gaza to discuss the activities of the
armed groups. On the basis of the information gathered, the Mission found that Palestinian
armed groups were present in urban areas during the military operations and launched rockets
from urban areas. It may be that the Palestinian combatants did not at all times adequately
distinguish themselves from the civilian population. The Mission found no evidence, however, to
suggest that Palestinian armed groups either directed civilians to areas where attacks were being
launched or that they forced civilians to remain within the vicinity of the attacks.

36. Although the situations investigated by the Mission did not establish the use of mosques for
military purposes or to shield military activities, it cannot exclude that this might have occurred

in other cases. The Mission did not find any evidence to support the allegations that hospital
facilities were used by the Gaza authorities or by Palestinian armed groups to shield military
activities and that ambulances were used to transport combatants or for other military purposes.
On the basis of its own investigations and the statements by UN officials, the Mission excludes
that Palestinian armed groups engaged in combat activities from UN facilities that were used as
shelters during the military operations. The Mission cannot, however, discount the possibility
that Palestinian armed groups were active in the vicinity of such UN facilities and hospitals.
While the conduct of hostilities in built-up areas does not, of itself, constitute a violation of
international law, Palestinian armed groups, where they launched attacks close to civilian or
protected buildings, unnecessarily exposed the civilian population of Gaza to danger.

5. Obligation to take feasible precautions to protect civilian population and objects by
Israel in Gaza

37. The Mission examined how Israeli forces discharged their obligation to take feasible
precautions to protect the civilian population of Gaza, including particularly the obligation to
give effective advance warning of attacks (Chapter IX). The Mission acknowledges the
significant efforts made by Israel to issue warnings through telephone calls, leaflets and radio
broadcasts and accepts that in some cases, particularly when the warnings were sufficiently
specific, they encouraged residents to leave an area and get out of harms way. However, the
Mission also notes factors that significantly undermined the effectiveness of the warnings issued.
These include the lack of specificity and thus credibility of many pre-recorded phone messages
and leaflets. The credibility of instructions to move to city centres for safety was also diminished
by the fact that the city centres themselves had been the subject of intense attacks during the air
phase of the military operations. The Mission also examined the practice of dropping lighter
explosives on roofs (so-called “roof knocking”). It concludes that this technique is not effective
as a warning and constitutes a form of attack against the civilians inhabiting the building.
Finally, the Mission stresses that the fact that a warning was issued does not relieve a
commander and his subordinates of taking all other feasible measures to distinguish between
civilians and combatants.

38. The Mission also examined the precautions taken by Israeli forces in the context of three
specific attacks they launched. On 15 January 2009, the UNRWA field office compound in Gaza
City came under shelling with high explosive and white phosphorous munitions. The Mission
notes that the attack was extremely dangerous, as the compound offered shelter to between 600
and 700 civilians and contained a huge fuel depot. The Israeli forces continued the attack over
several hours in spite of having been fully alerted to the risks they created. The Mission
concludes that Israeli armed forces violated the customary international law requirement to take
all feasible precautions in the choice of means and method of attack with a view to avoiding and
in any event minimizing incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian
objects.

39. The Mission also finds that, on the same day, the Israeli forces directly and intentionally
attacked the Al Quds Hospital in Gaza City and the adjacent ambulance depot with white
phosphorous shells. The attack caused fires which took a whole day to extinguish and caused
panic among the sick and wounded who had to be evacuated. The Mission finds that no warning
was given at any point of an imminent strike. On the basis of its investigation, the Mission
rejects the allegation that fire was directed at Israeli forces from within the hospital.

40. The Mission also examined the intense artillery attacks, again including white phosphorous
munitions, on Al Wafa hospital in eastern Gaza City, a facility for patients receiving long-term
care and suffering from particularly serious injuries. On the basis of the information gathered,
the Mission found a violation of the prohibition of attacks on civilian hospitals in the cases of
both hospitals. The Mission also highlights that the warnings given by leaflets and pre-recorded
phone messages in the case of Al Wafa hospital demonstrate the complete ineffectiveness of
certain kinds of routine and generic warnings.

6. Indiscriminate attacks by Israeli forces resulting in the loss of life and injury to civilians

41. The Mission examined the mortar shelling of al-Fakhura junction in Jabalya next to a
UNRWA school which at the time was used as a shelter housing more than 1,300 people
(Chapter X). The Israeli forces launched at least four mortar shells. One landed in the courtyard
of a family home, killing eleven people assembled there. Three other shells landed on al-Fakhura
Street, killing at least a further 24 people and injuring as many as 40. The Mission examines in

detail statements by Israeli Government representatives alleging that the attack was launched in
response to a mortar attack from an armed Palestinian group. While the Mission does not
exclude that this may have been the case, it considers the credibility of Israel’s position damaged
by the series of inconsistencies, contradictions and factual inaccuracies in the statements
justifying the attack.

42. In drawing its legal conclusions on the attack against al-Fakhura junction, the Mission
recognizes that for all armies proportionality decisions, weighing the military advantage to be
gained against the risk of killing civilians, will present very genuine dilemmas in certain cases.
The Mission does not consider this to be such a case. The firing of at least four mortar shells to
attempt to kill a small number of specified individuals in a setting where large numbers of
civilians were going about their daily business and 1,368 people were sheltering nearby cannot
meet the test of what a reasonable commander would have determined to be an acceptable loss of
civilian life for the military advantage sought. The Mission considers thus the attack to have
been indiscriminate in violation of international law, and to have violated the right to life of the
Palestinian civilians killed in these incidents.

7. Deliberate attacks against the civilian population

43. The Mission investigated eleven incidents in which Israeli forces launched direct attacks
against civilians with lethal outcome (Chapter XI). The cases examined in this part of the report
are, with one exception, all cases in which the facts indicate no justifiable military objective
pursued by the attack. The first two incidents are attacks against houses in the Samouni
neighbourhood south of Gaza City, including the shelling of a house in which Palestinian
civilians had been forced to assemble by the Israeli forces. The following group of seven
incidents concern the shooting of civilians while they were trying to leave their homes to walk to
a safer place, waving white flags and, in some of the cases, following an injunction from the
Israeli forces to do so. The facts gathered by the Mission indicate that all the attacks occurred
under circumstances in which the Israeli forces were in control of the area and had previously
entered into contact with or at least observed the persons they subsequently attacked, so that they
must have been aware of their civilian status. In the majority of these incidents,the consequencesof the Israeli attacks against civilians were aggravated by their subsequent refusal to allow the evacuation of the wounded or to permit access to ambulances.

44. These incidents indicate that the instructions given to the Israeli forces moving into Gaza
provided for a low threshold for the use of lethal fire against the civilian population. The Mission
found strong corroboration of this trend emerging from its fact-finding in the testimonies of
Israeli soldiers collected in two publications it reviewed.

45. The Mission further examined an incident in which a mosque was targeted with a missile
during the early evening prayer, resulting in the death of fifteen, and an attack with flechette
munitions on a crowd of family and neighbours at a condolence tent, killing five. The Mission
finds that both attacks constitute intentional attacks against the civilian population and civilian
objects.

46. From the facts ascertained in all the above cases, the Mission finds that the conduct of the
Israeli armed forces constitute grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of
wilful killings and wilfully causing great suffering to protected persons and as such give rise to
individual criminal responsibility. It also finds that the direct targeting and arbitrary killing of
Palestinian civilians is a violation of the right to life.
47. The last incident concerns the launch of a bomb on a house resulting in the killing of 22
family members. Israel’s position in this case is that there was an “operational error” and that the
intended target was a neighbouring house storing weapons. On the basis of its investigation, the
Mission expresses significant doubts about the Israeli authorities’ account of the incident. The
Mission concludes that, if indeed a mistake was made, there could not be said to be a case of
wilful killing. State responsibility of Israel for an internationally wrongful act, however, would
remain.

8. The use of certain weapons

48. Based on its investigation of incidents involving the use of certain weapons such as white
phosphorous and flechette missiles, the Mission, while accepting that white phosphorous is not at
this stage proscribed under international law, finds that the Israeli armed forces were
systematically reckless in determining its use in built-up areas. Moreover, doctors who treated

patients with white phosphorous wounds spoke about the severity and sometimes untreatable
nature of the burns caused by the substance. The Mission believes that serious consideration
should be given to banning the use of white phosphorous in built-up areas. As to flechettes, the
Mission notes that they are an area weapon incapable of discriminating between objectives after
detonation. They are, therefore, particularly unsuitable for use in urban settings where there is
reason to believe civilians may be present.

49. While the Mission is not in a position to state with certainty that so-called dense inert metal
explosive (DIME) munitions were used by the Israeli armed forces, it did receive reports from
Palestinian and foreign doctors who operated in Gaza during the military operations of a high
percentage of patients with injuries compatible with their impact. DIME weapons and weapons
armed with heavy metal are not prohibited under international law as it currently stands, but do
raise specific health concerns. Finally, the Mission received allegations that depleted and nondepleted
uranium were used by Israeli forces in Gaza. These allegations were not further
investigated by the Mission.

9. Attacks on the foundations of civilian life in Gaza: destruction of industrial
infrastructure, food production, water installations, sewage treatment and housing
50. The Mission investigated several incidents involving the destruction of industrial
infrastructure, food production, water installations, sewage treatment and housing (Chapter
XIII). Already at the beginning of the military operations, the Al Bader flour mill was the only
flour mill in the Gaza Strip still operating. The flour mill was hit by a series of air strikes on 9
January 2009 after several false warnings had been issued on previous days. The Mission finds
that its destruction had no military justification. The nature of the strikes, in particular the precise
targeting of crucial machinery, suggests that the intention was to disable the factory in terms of
its productive capacity. From the facts it ascertained, the Mission finds that there has been a
violation of the grave breaches provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Unlawful and
wanton destruction which is not justified by military necessity amounts to a war crime. The
Mission also finds that the destruction of the mill was carried out for the purposes of denying
sustenance to the civilian population, which is a violation of customary international law and

may constitute a war crime. The strike on the flour mill further constitutes a violation of human
rights provisions regarding the right to adequate food and means of subsistence.
51. The chicken farms of Mr. Sameh Sawafeary in the Zeitoun neighbourhood south of Gaza
City reportedly supplied over 10 per cent of the Gaza egg market. Armoured bulldozers of the
Israeli forces systematically flattened the chicken coops, killing all 31,000 chickens inside, and
destroyed the plant and material necessary for the business. The Mission concludes that this was
a deliberate act of wanton destruction not justified by any military necessity and draws the same
legal conclusions as in the case of the destruction of the flour mill.

52. Israeli forces also carried out a strike against a wall of one of the raw sewage lagoons of the
Gaza Waste Water Treatment Plant, which caused the outflow of more than 200,000 cubic
metres of raw sewage into neighbouring farmland. The circumstances of the strike on the lagoon
suggest that it was deliberate and premeditated. The Namar Wells complex in Jabalya consisted
of two water wells, pumping machines, a generator, fuel storage, a reservoir chlorination unit,
buildings and related equipment. All were destroyed by multiple air strikes on the first day of the
Israeli aerial attack. The Mission considers it unlikely that a target the size of the Namar Wells
could have been hit by multiple strikes in error. It found no grounds to suggest that there was any
military advantage to be had by hitting the wells and noted that there was no suggestion that
Palestinian armed groups had used the wells for any purpose. Considering that the right to
drinking water is part of the right to adequate food, the Mission makes the same legal findings as
in the case of the Al Bader flour mill.

53. During its visits to the Gaza Strip, the Mission witnessed the extent of the destruction of
residential housing caused by air strikes, mortar and artillery shelling, missile strikes, the
operation of bulldozers and demolition charges. In some cases, residential neighbourhoods were
subjected to air-launched bombing and to intensive shelling apparently in the context of the
advance of Israeli ground forces. In other cases, the facts gathered by the Mission strongly
suggest that the destruction of housing was carried out in the absence of any link to combat
engagements with Palestinian armed groups or any other effective contribution to military action.
Combining the results of its own fact finding on the ground with UNOSAT imagery and the
published testimonies of Israeli soldiers, the Mission concludes that, in addition to the extensive
destruction of housing for so-called “operational necessity” during their advance, the Israeli

forces engaged in another wave of systematic destruction of civilian buildings during the last
three days of their presence in Gaza, aware of the imminence of withdrawal. The conduct of the
Israeli forces in this respect violated the principle of distinction between civilian and military
objects and amounted to the grave breach of “extensive destruction … of property, not justified
by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly”. Israeli forces further violated the
right to adequate housing of the families concerned.

54. The attacks on industrial facilities, food production and water infrastructure investigated by
the Mission are part of a broader pattern of destruction, which includes the destruction of the
only cement packaging plant in Gaza (the Atta Abu Jubbah plant), the Abu Eida factories for
ready-mix concrete, further chicken farms and the Al Wadia Group’s foods and drinks factories.
The facts ascertained by the Mission indicate that there was a deliberate and systematic policy on
the part of the Israeli armed forces to target industrial sites and water installations.

10. The use of Palestinian civilians as human shields

55. The Mission investigated four incidents in which Israeli forces coerced Palestinian civilian
men at gun point to take part in house searches during the military operations (Chapter XIV).
The Palestinian men were blindfolded and handcuffed as they were forced to enter houses ahead
of the Israeli soldiers. In one of the incidents, Israeli forces repeatedly forced a man to enter a
house in which Palestinian combatants were hiding. Published testimonies of Israeli soldiers who
took part in the military operations confirm the continued use of this practice, in spite of clear
orders from Israel’s High Court to the armed forces to put an end to it and repeated public
assurances from the armed forces that the practice had been discontinued. The Mission
concludes that this practice amounts to the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields and is
therefore prohibited by international humanitarian law. It puts the right to life of the civilians at
risk in an arbitrary and unlawful manner and constitutes cruel and inhuman treatment. The use of
human shields also is a war crime. The Palestinian men used as human shields were questioned
under threat of death or injury to extract information about Hamas, Palestinian combatants and
tunnels. This constitutes a further violation of international humanitarian law.