Global InformationList of Israeli strikes and Palestinian casualties in the 2014 Gaza War information
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. (July 2014) |
This is a list of individual Israel Defense Forces (IDF)/Israeli Air Force (IAF) operations in Operation Protective Edge, which began on 8 July 2014, naming the targets and casualties. After Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza in 2005, and following on the joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007, several military operations have been conducted against the area, including Operation Cast Lead in 2008, in which 1,417 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died, Operation Pillar of Defense 2012[1] in which 120-160 Palestinians and 2 Israelis died, and the March 2012 Gaza–Israel clashes.
The nature of casualties reflects the conditions of asymmetric warfare in this region, in differences in weaponry, defensive technologies, operating terrain and local attitudes: the Gaza Strip has high habitation density whereas the contiguous area of southern Israel where most rockets fall, is the sparsely populated Negev.[2] The forces in the conflict are Gaza-based militants, who have stocks of long-range rockets, such as Grad missiles but use mainly home- or factory-made missiles, many of which have inaccurate trajectories,[3][4] especially Qassam rockets, many of which hit open fields,[5][6] versus Israel's combined military forces, naval gunboats to the east, tanks positioned on the land borders, and IAF aircraft,[7] equipped with F-15 fighter jets, AH-64 Apache helicopters, Delilah missiles, IAI Heron-1 drones and Jericho II missiles.[8] Israel's civilian population has, in addition, access to shelters, early-warning sirens and is defended by the Iron Dome missile detection defence system.[9] A spokeswoman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights queried whether Israeli air strikes targeting homes were compliant with International humanitarian law and International human rights law. Israel states that Hamas places its armouries in densely populated areas to make civilians human shields.[10]
In March 2015, according to UN OCHA, 2,220 Palestinians had been killed, of whom 1,492 civilians (551 children, 299 women), 605 militants and 123 of unknown status.[11] The IDF calculates 2,127 killed claiming 55% were civilians and 45% militants.[12][13] Israeli casualties consisted of 6 civilians (including 1 Thai national) and 66 soldiers,[14][15] 5 of whom reportedly died from friendly fire.[16] The Associated Press, examining 247 airstrikes that hit residential compounds, out of the some 5,000 Israeli bombing raids, determined that of the 844 killed, 60% or 508 were presumed civilian children (280, of whom 19 were babies and 108 preschoolers between the ages of 1 and 5), women and older men. 98 or 11% were confirmed or suspected Hamas militants.[17]
In the wake of Avigdor Liberman's Sunday 20 July comment that the IDF is the "most humane and bravest army in the world", Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, in an address delivered before Christians United for Israel on Tuesday, 22 July, remarked that Israel's armed forces merited a Nobel Prize in recognition of the "unimaginable restraint" they had exercised during the Operation.[18] Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas, asserting that the civilian toll is desired by Hamas to use "telegenically dead Palestinians" for their cause. Palestinians stated that, given the overcrowding of the Gaza Strip, they are vulnerable everywhere.[19]
By 21 July, 132 of the casualties to that date were children.[20] B'tselem tried to obtain a radio spot in which the names of those children killed in the conflict were to be read out. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority banned the attempt to air the information on the airwaves. 97% of the children killed in the last five years of the conflict have been Palestinian.[21] Israel's Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) has alleged that Hamas uses children in their operations in the Gaza Strip, and that some militants killed in action were "falsely reported" as civilians or children.[22]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Taitwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Adam Taylor, "The lopsided death tolls in Israel-Palestinian conflicts", Washington Post, 11 July 2014.
- ^ "LIVE UPDATES: Three lightly hurt after rocket hits Be'er Sheva; Gaza death toll over 100", Haaretz, 11 July 2014.
- "Projectiles launched by Gaza militants are largely inaccurate."
- ^ Amos Harel, "No end in sight for Operation Protective Edge", Haaretz, 9 July 2014: 'The fact is that most of the rockets fired, as of this writing, have fallen in open areas or were successfully intercepted, with the Iron Dome system exhibiting impressive abilities.'
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Ma'an4was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
JoelGwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Israeli Offensive on Gaza Continues: 69 Palestinians killed, of whom 60 are civilians, including 22 children and 13 women, and 469 others wounded, mostly civilians, including 166 children and 85 women; Driver of Press Vehicle Killed; 70 Houses Destroyed" Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 10 July 2014.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Weaver9was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Owen Jones,"'Israel under renewed Hamas attack', says the BBC. More balance is needed", The Guardian, 9 July 2014.
- ^ Hayden Cooper, "Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says airstrikes in Gaza to continue as UN questions campaign's legality", ABC News, 12 July 2014.
- ^ Fragmented Lives: Humanitarian Overview, 2014, OCHA, March 2015.
- ^ William Booth, "Here's what really happened in the Gaza war (according to the Israelis)", Washington Post, 3 September 2014
- ^ Report: 3 prisoners captured in Operation Protective Edge released Jerusalem Post, 16 August 2014
- ^ "Operation Protective Edge, Casualties, Ynet". Retrieved 28 August 2014.
- ^ "Occupied Palestinian Territory: Gaza Emergency" (PDF). 4 September 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
- ^ Elie Leshem, Lazar Berman and Marissa Newman, "Serious tank-on-tank friendly fire incident under review", The Times of Israel, 17 August 2014.
- ^ "Report finds high civilian death toll during Gaza war", Haaretz, 14 February 2015.
- ^ Raphael Ahren, "Dermer: IDF deserves Nobel Peace Prize for 'unimaginable restraint'", The Times of Israel, 22 July 2014.
- ^ Jethro Mullen, Ian Lee, "Kerry seeks Gaza ceasefire amid rising casualties", CNN News, 22 July 2014.
- ^ Mark Oliver, Andrew Marszal, and Sam Dodge, "Revealed: the Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces", The Telegraph, 22 July 2014.
- ^ Ruth Pollard, "Israel bans radio ad listing dead children's names", Sydney Morning Herald, 25 July 2014.
- ^ "The War of Casualties: During Operation Protective Edge children and teenagers were exploited by terrorists as auxiliaries and operatives. The extent of the phenomenon is still unclear". terrorism-info. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
An examination of about a third of the names of Palestinians killed in Operation Protective Edge revealed several instances of children and teenagers serving as military operatives in the terrorist organizations. The examination also revealed instances in which the ages of Palestinian casualties were falsified by Gaza's Hamas-controlled ministry of health. For example, boys aged 15 and 17 were integrated into the terrorist operative networks; the age of a nine year-old terrorist auxiliary was listed as 24; and a terrorist operative in his twenties was listed as 13 years of age.