Thu, February 16, 2012 Shvat 23, 5772
Operation Cast Lead, or, as it came to be more commonly known, the Gaza war, was a three-week Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip that was launched in late December 2008, and ended in January 2009.
In Israel, the operation was mostly seen as a justified response to ongoing rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza, and the government and IDF received public support in their attempts to weaken Hamas and bring about an end to the rocket threat. The Palestinians, however, accused Israel of employing disproportionate force that also led to hundreds of civilian casualties. Israel was also accused of using white phosphorous bombs - which it initially denied but later admitted – and of soldier misconduct.
Israel maintained throughout the conflict and its aftermath that it had taken extensive measures to identify, single out and target installations and people affiliated only to Hamas, and expressed regret for the harming of innocent bystanders. Furthermore, Israel claimed that Hamas fighters shed their uniforms for civilian garb, hid among and used civilians as shields, and also used mosques and hospitals to take refuge in and fire on IDF troops.
In April 2009, Israeli officials claimed that Hamas military commanders had accepted it had been a mistake for their fighters' to don civilian clothing a few days into the campaign. Consequently, Hamas militants had reportedly received orders to stay in uniform even if doing so made them more easily targeted in Israeli air strikes.
The greatest criticism of Israel's actions during the Gaza conflict came from the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, established by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and headed by Judge Richard Goldstone, a Jewish retired justice from South Africa.
The mission's final report, released on September 15, accused both the IDF and Palestinian militants of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. The Goldstone report, as it became known, recommended that both sides openly investigate their own conduct and, should they fail to do so, that the allegations to be brought to the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Israel rejected the Goldstone report as prejudiced and full of errors, while Hamas initially rejected the report's findings but then urged world powers to embrace it. Goldstone was also the target of criticism from many Jews and Israelis due to the findings of the report.
In the aftermath of the campaign, both Hamas and Israel have largely held to a cease-fire agreement, which has resulted in a near complete halt to rocket fire on southern Israel and IDF action in Gaza. The blockade on Gaza imposed by Israel in 2007 has remained intact, however, and Israel has come under criticism for its tight regulations of materials allowed into Gaza on the grounds that it has hindered efforts to rebuild parts of the strip badly damaged in the fighting.
IDF confirms targeting militants laying explosives along border fence; IDF said late last year it was preparing for possible large-scale incursion.
by Reuters and Gili Cohen 83 comments
Avichai Mendelblit: No one wants to see dead children, Palestinian or Lebanese...it is very sad, but we do not need to initiate an investigation into everything.
by Gili Cohen 27 comments
While Yoav Galant's name is most prominently mentioned in the context of the third anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, we must recall the other, nameless soldiers, guided by the spirit of the army's top brass.
by Amira Hass 15 comments
Hamas was restrained by the IDF's incursion, but the continuing trickle of fire from the Gaza Strip could bring on another military conflagration.
by Amos Harel 21 comments
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