Amnesty and others dispute Israel's report

[Nfoukh]

Israel's propaganda machine was busy again playing with words and numbers to minimise the effects of its brutal war machine in Gaza during Cast Lead, but Amnesty International , the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem have all disputed the figures Israel published in its report of its invasion if Gaza. The following is B’Tselem’s report:

More than half the Palestinians killed in the Gaza conflict were civilians, according to an Israeli human rights group.
B'Tselem said 1,387 Palestinians were killed in the war - 773 civilians including 320 children, 330 combatants, 248 Hamas policemen and 36 people whom the group was unable to classify as combatants or non-combatants.
The figures were broadly in line with reports published by groups such as Amnesty International
and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights after the 22-day Israeli offensive ended in January.
The Israeli military claims 1,166 Palestinians were killed in the offensive it dubbed Operation Cast Lead - 709 combatants, just 295 civilians and 162 people whose status it was unable to clarify.
In a statement, B'Tselem said its researchers had visited Gaza homes to take witness statements and collect documents to arrive at its casualty figures. It called on the Israeli government to hold an independent investigation of the war.
Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed during the offensive that Israel carried out with the declared aim of curtailing cross-border attacks from the Gaza Strip, territory controlled by Hamas.