JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has evidence that almost half of Palestinians killed
in the 25-day-old Gaza war were combatants, its deputy foreign
minister said on Saturday, pushing back against international
allegations of a lopsidedly heavy civilian death toll.
Gazan
human rights groups say at least 80 percent of the 1,669 Palestinians
killed have been non-combatants, including hundreds of children. The
U.N. Human Rights Council last week accused the Israelis of
"disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks" and launched an inquiry
into possible war crimes.
Israel,
which has lost 63 soldiers and 3 civilians to the fighting, says it has
done everything possible to avoid harming innocents and that Gaza's
dominant Hamas Islamists invite such casualties by operating in densely
populated areas.
"There
is research being done in the military, very professionally and
reliably, (whose) conclusion is that at least 47% of the fatalities are
terrorists, with photographs and names," Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel's
Channel Two television, adding that the data would be presented to
investigators.
He
did not elaborate. Israel rejected the U.N. Human Rights Council's
probe announcement, describing the forum as biased, but usually conducts
its own combat inquiries.
Israel
says Hamas and other Palestinian guerrillas in Gaza are terrorists and
in past conflicts has used broad definitions of combatants - including,
for example, Palestinian policemen working for the Hamas administration.
(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Yisrael Medad
Post Office Box 9407
Shiloh
Post Office Box 9407
Shiloh
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