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A30 world news
Diaranson 28 Juli 2021

Human Rights Watch: Israeli war crimes apparent in Gaza war

areas, underscored the im- were killed in Israel, along at a May 10 explosion that
portance of an ongoing in- with one soldier. killed eight people, including
vestigation into both sides by six children, near the north-
the International Criminal The HRW report looked into ern Gaza town of Beit Ha-
Court, or ICC. Israeli airstrikes. The most noun. It said the two adults
serious, on May 16, involved were civilians.
In a statement, the Israeli a series of strikes on Al-
army said its attacks were Wahda Street, a central thor- In its statement, the Israeli
aimed at military targets and oughfare in downtown Gaza military said the casualties
that it took numerous pre- City. The airstrikes destroyed were caused by errant rock-
cautions to avoid harming three apartment buildings et fire launched by militant
civilians. It said Hamas is and killed a total of 44 civil- groups, not Israeli airstrikes.
responsible for civilian casu- ians, HRW said, including It released aerial photos of
alties because it launches at- 18 children and 14 women. what it said was the launch
tacks from residential areas. Twenty-two of the dead were site, some 7.5 kilometers (4.5
members of a single family, miles) away, and the landing
The war erupted on May 10 the al-Kawlaks. area. It also said it did not car-
(AP) — Human Rights against deliberate or indis- after Hamas fired a barrage ry out any strikes in the area
Watch on Tuesday accused criminate attacks against ci- of rockets toward Jerusa- The Israeli military said the at the time of the explosion.
the Israeli military of car- vilians.” lem in support of Palestin- attacks were aimed at tun-
rying out attacks that “ap- ian protests against Israel’s nels used by Hamas militants But based on an analysis of
parently amount to war The report, however, focused heavy-handed policing of the in the area. The airstrikes munition remnants and wit-
crimes” during an 11-day on Israeli actions during the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, unexpectedly caused nearby ness accounts, HRW said evi-
war in May against the fighting, and the group said built on a contested site sa- buildings to colapse, leading dence indicated the weapon
Hamas militant group. it would issue a separate re- cred to Jews and Muslims, to “unintended casualties,” it had been “a type of guided
port on the actions of Hamas and the threatened eviction said. missile” used by Israel.
The international human and other Palestinian militant of dozens of Palestinian fam-
rights organization issued its groups in August. ilies by Jewish settlers in a In its investigation, HRW “Human Rights Watch found
conclusions after investigat- nearby neighborhood. Israel concluded that Israel had no evidence of a military tar-
ing three Israeli airstrikes that “Israeli forces carried out at- has said it struck over 1,000 used U.S.-made GBU-31 get at or near the site of the
it said killed 62 Palestinian ci- tacks in Gaza in May that targets during the fighting. precision-guided bombs, and strike,” it said.
vilians. It said “there were no devastated entire families that it did not warn residents
evident military targets in the without any apparent mili- In all, some 254 people to evacuate the area ahead of The New York-based group
vicinity” of the attacks. tary target nearby,” said Gerry were killed in Gaza, includ- time. It also found no evi- said that Israel refused to al-
Simpson, associate crisis and ing at least 67 children and dence of military targets in low its investigators to enter
The report also accused Pal- conflict director at HRW. 39 women, according to the the area. Gaza. Instead, it said it relied
estinian militants of appar- Gaza Health Ministry. Hamas on a field researcher based in
ent war crimes by launching He said Israel’s “consistent has acknowledged the deaths “An attack that is not directed Gaza, along with satellite im-
over 4,000 unguided rockets unwillingness to seriously in- of 80 militants, while Israel at a specific military objective ages, expert reviews of pho-
and mortars at Israeli popula- vestigate alleged war crimes,” has claimed the number is is unlawful,” it wrote. tos of munitions fragments
tion centers. Such attacks, it coupled with Palestinian much higher. Twelve civil- and interviews conducted by
said, violate “the prohibition rocket fire at Israeli civilian ians, including two children, The investigation also looked video and telephone.

Italy: Lake Como towns hit by extreme weather

(AP) — Towns around Italy’s intense rainfalls and rapids changes with a few dozen a year up to six years tennis balls,” Coldiretti said.
Lake Como were hit by mudslides from sunny skies to storms. ago, a rate that grew to 92 in 2018 and
and floods on Tuesday in another 198 in 2019. Hailstorms can wipe out entire fields
example of extreme weather phe- Coldiretti estimates 14 billion euros or orchards of vegetable and fruit.
nomena that an agricultural lob- ($16.5 billion) of damage over the “The dimension of the hailstones also Coldiretti attributes a 40% drop in
by said had intensified in recent last decade to agriculture production, has changed, growing considerably in peach and apricot harvests and a 50%
years. buildings and infrastructure because the last years with real ice blocks fall- drop in nectarines to “this crazy cli-
of climate change-provoked events ing from the sky — even bigger than mate.”
Italian firefighters carried out more like flooding and landslides.
than 60 rescues after storms wreaked
havoc around the picturesque lake The storms devastating Lake Como
ringed by mountains in northern come a day after hailstones the size
Italy. They included bringing to safe- of tennis balls damaged nearly 100
ty an elderly woman blocked in her cars and stalled traffic on a highway
home, as well as a person with a dis- near Bologna, in northern Italy. Video
ability and a caregiver isolated by a showed cars with windshields shat-
landslide. No deaths or injuries were tered by the hailstones pulled over
reported. on the side of a highway as stunned
drivers and passengers surveyed the
In Brienno, on the lake’s western damage.
shore and the hardest hit town, 50
residents were blocked in their home While hailstorms are a common sum-
when a landslide caused a gas leak. mer feature in Italy’s Po River Valley,
And further south in Cernobbio, meteorologist Luca Lombroso told
firefighters evacuated a condomini- the Bologna daily, il Resto di Car-
um threatened with flooding. lino, that the strength and frequency
of hailstorms this year has made the
“We are facing in Italy the conse- phenomenon “unusual.”
quences of climate change, with a
trend toward tropicalization and the Coldiretti said its analysis shows that
multiplication of extreme events,” hailstorms are occurring at the rate of
Coldiretti said, citing more frequent, 11 a day this summer, with 386 re-
sudden and violent storms, short and corded so far this year. That compares