| Summary: | Rockets from Gaza documents rocket attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza against Israeli population centers before, during and after Israel's three-week military offensive in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. This report describes the rockets fired, the number of attacks, and the cases of individual civilians harmed by the attacks. In addition to documenting property damage and the displacement of civilians within rocket range, the report provides accounts of the three Israeli civilians killed by rockets on December 27 and 29, and of a seven year-old boy who was severely wounded on January 15, 2009. It documents the deaths of two young Palestinian girls in northern Gaza who were killed on December 26 by a rocket that fell short of its intended target, and describes how a lawyer in a residential neighborhood was badly injured by rocket shrapnel on December 24. The rockets fired by Hamas and other armed groups cannot be aimed with reliability. Under the laws of war, such weapons are inherently indiscriminate when directed towards densely populated areas. The absence of Israeli military forces in the areas struck by the rockets, as well as statements from the leaders of Hamas and other armed groups, indicate that they deliberately intended to strike Israeli civilians and civilian structures. Individuals who willfully authorize or carry out deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians are committing war crimes. Since the end of the fighting in January, Hamas has significantly limited rocket attacks, but has not renounced attacks that target civilians in violation of the laws of war. Nor has it held accountable those responsible for such attacks, or for endangering Palestinian civilians by launching rockets within populated areas in Gaza. This report calls on Hamas authorities to take these steps.
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