The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem said in a statement that more than half of the Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip in operations in recent days did not take an active part in the fighting.
This statement came after the IDF Chief of Staff issued a statement saying that 90 percent of those killed were in fact armed militants. According to data gathered by B'Tselem, 106 Palestinians were killed between February 27 and March 3. Fifty four of them were civilians who didn't take part in the fighting, and 25 were under 18, the statement said.
B'Tselem expressed concern over the high number of civilians, especially children, who have been killed recently in the Gaza Strip. "Israel has a right to defend its citizens from rockets, which are in themselves a war crime, and it is what it must do," the organization wrote. "Israel must do so within the confines of the law, which must conform to the criteria of differentiation and proportionality as defined by international humanitarian law."
[Haaretz]
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