fact_108x60"Hamas is using them, Palestinians, as homo shields."
Benjamin Netanyahu, 20 July 2013

There is no dispute that Palestinian civilians tend to suffer unduly when the Arab-Israeli disharmonize boils over into violence.

At time of writing, more than 700 Palestinians take died in the latest fighting, compared to 35 on the Israeli side, 32 of them members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The lop-sided human toll of this disharmonize is entirely in keeping with previous outbreaks of fighting.

More than than 7,500 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis have died since the outbreak of the 2d Intifada (Palestinian uprising) in 2000, according to the Israeli human being rights data centre B'Tselem.

All of this is often used as show of the brutally disproportionate nature of the military action Israel periodically launches in the occupied territories.

But the Israeli military has blamed high Palestinian casualty rates in the contempo fighting Gaza on Hamas, saying the Islamist group that runs the enclave has a deliberate policy of placing its own civilians in damage's fashion.

The assay

Really Hamas has made no hush-hush of advocating the use of civilians as human shields to try to face down Israeli aggression.

A senior spokesman for the group, Sami Abu Zuhri, gave an interview on Palestinian station al-Aqsa TV earlier this month.

He said: "This attests to the grapheme of our noble, jihad-loving people – who defend their rights and their homes with their bare chests and their blood.

"The policy of people confronting the Israeli warplanes with their bare chests in gild to protect their homes has proven effective against the occupation… we in Hamas call upon our people to prefer this policy in club to protect the Palestinian homes."

Credible reports from journalists in Gaza propose some civilians are choosing to stay in their homes, ignoring warnings of imminent destructions that the Israeli military gives via phone calls or empty shells "knocking on the roof".

On the same day as Mr Abu Zuhri was broadcasting Hamas'southward message, the New York Times reported the fate of a Palestinian man, Salah Kaware, who received a phone warning that his house in Khan Younis in south east Gaza was about to be hit by the IDF.

The newspaper reported that another warning came as the occupants were leaving, when an Israeli drone fired a flare at the roof of the three-storey home.

"Our neighbours came in to course a human shield," Mr Kaware said, with some even going up on to the roof to try to preclude a bombing.

Seven people died in the attack.

On 10 July the United nations released a situation written report which deplored the civilian casualties but added: "In most cases, prior to the attacks, residents accept been warned to leave, either via phone calls by the State of israel military or past the firing of warning missiles."

Just the Hamas-run Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Interior has told residents not to pay attention to the IDF warnings.

It issued a directive "calling all our people not to deal or pay attention to the psychological warfare carried out past the occupation through rumours that broadcast beyond his media and delivering publications and communications on the phones of citizens".

We don't know how many of the Palestinian fatalities are the result of people choosing to ignore warnings from the Israelis.

We practise know that some civilians accept died after being hit with no alarm – similar the four Palestinian boys from the aforementioned family who were killed on Gaza beach last week.

There are also reports of people beingness given insufficient time to get clear of their buildings before the shells or missile hit.

Some journalists in the conflict zone report that civilians may be reluctant to flee their homes even after receiving warnings because they believe it is safer to stay indoors during the bombardment.

Placement of Hamas missiles

Israel says Hamas is inviting civilian casualties by placing its rockets in residential areas, next to hospitals, mosques and schools – all of which take been hit by Israeli strikes in contempo days.

There is some independent testify that this may exist true, only nosotros don't know how widespread the practice is.

The Un Relief and Works Agency has confirmed that Hamas rockets take been institute in two of the schools it operates in Gaza.

Israel has released numerous satellite images of what is says are Hamas control and firing positions very close to noncombatant houses in residential neighbourhoods in Gaza – but nearly of these are unverified by independent sources.

Information technology could be argued that at that place is nowhere else for the militants to place their missile batteries, given the urban density of the Gaza Strip.

The enclave is sometimes said to be the near densely populated place on globe, although this is an exaggeration. It is very crowded, though less so than Macau, Singapore, Hong Kong and other cities.

The verdict

Hamas has made no secret of its policy of encouraging civilians to face downward Israeli attacks "with their blank chests".

But we don't know how many people take followed this advice, so information technology'south difficult to say how far Hamas can be blamed for the civilian deaths.

We do know that rockets have been stored in United nations-run schools, which may or may not add brownie to Israel'due south broader claims that Hamas has a habit of operating in civilian areas.

Even if all these things turn out to be true, they may not exonerate State of israel from the accusation of war crimes existence levelled by the United nations'southward human rights primary Navi Pillay.

Israel's carry could however be institute to be "indiscriminate" or "asymmetric" if it led to excessive civilian casualties or failed to distinguish between military and noncombatant targets, regardless of the behaviour of Hamas.