Human rights group urges arms freeze on Israel and Hamas

Human rights campaigners have called for a block on arms sales to Israel and Palestinian groups such as Hamas.

Both Israel and Palestinian group Hamas have been accused of war crimes during the recent conflict in Gaza. And there is evidence, claims London-based human rights group Amnesty International, that both sides used weapons sourced from overseas to attack ordinary people.Today, a report by Amnesty a called on the United Nations (UN) Security Council to block arms supplies to both sides.

Israel is accused of the illegal use of white phosphorus and other arms supplied by the US in Gaza, while Hamas is condemned for launching unguided rockets into Israel. "Israeli attacks resulted in the death of hundreds of children and other civilians and massive destruction of homes and infrastructure," said Donatella Rovera, the head of the rights group Amnesty International’s fact-finding mission to Gaza.

"Israeli forces used white phosphorus and other weapons supplied by the USA to carry out serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes," she said. "At the same time, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups fired hundreds of rockets that had been smuggled in or made of components from abroad at civilian areas in Israel," the report continues. "Though far less lethal than the weaponry used by Israel, such rocket firing also constitutes a war crime and caused several civilian deaths," said the report.

Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the allegations of war crimes, according to the BBC. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the broadcaster: "The IDF, the Israeli Defence Forces, only use weapons that are in accordance with international law. We did not use any such munition as an anti-personnel weapon; we are investigating ourselves."

Amnesty found fragments and components of artillery, tank shells, fins from mortar rounds and aircraft-launched missiles and bombs in school playgrounds, hospitals and homes in Gaza. Israel's weapons mostly came from the US, the report said. In southern Israel, meanwhile, the remains of rockets fired indiscriminately at civilian areas by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups were also found, the report said. The BBC said about 1,300 Gazans and 13 Israelis died in 22 days of fighting last month.

Written by Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children