Israel rejects Amnesty report

JERUSALEM, July 2 (UPI) -- Israel rejected a 118-page Amnesty International report accusing Israel of war crimes in Operation Cast Lead, calling it unbalanced and unacceptable.

The report published Thursday called Operation Cast Lead 22 days of death and destruction, blamed Israel for killing "hundreds of unarmed civilians," in attacks on Gaza it described as unprecedented in scale and intensity.

The report recommends the U.N. Security Council impose an arms embargo on Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups until a mechanism is put in place to ensure weapons and munitions "will not be used to commit serious violations of international law."

"Some 300 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians who took no part in the conflict were among the 1,400 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. Most were killed with high-precision weapons, relying on surveillance drones, which have exceptionally good optics …," the report said.

The report said Israeli civilians living in southern Israel were under constant rocket attacks during the military operation, but rejected Israeli claims of Hamas using the population as human shields.

Israeli military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovitch called the report biased and unbalanced. The report failed to address the suffering of more than 250,000 Israeli civilians under constant rocket attack since 2000, she said in a telephone interview.

"Israel cannot accept the report's findings and rejects claims the Palestinian population were not used as shields by Hamas," she told UPI. She said the army has documented evidence proving otherwise.

"Mosques were used to stockpile weapons. Attacks were launched from the roofs of schools and in the yards of homes. Tunnels were dug underneath existing houses to move weapons and munitions from place to place used in attacks against Israel," she said.