A fresh report from Human Rights Watch claims Israeli troops killed 11 unarmed Palestinian civilians carrying white flags during Israel's Gaza offensive earlier this year. According to the rights group, the civilians included five women and four children. It said details of the incidents came from at least three witnesses.
"These casualties comprise a small fraction of the Palestinian civilians wounded and killed," Human Rights Watch said, according to Reuters. "But they stand out because, in each case, the victims were standing, walking or in slowly moving vehicles with other unarmed civilians, and were trying to convey their non-combatant status by waving a white flag."
"All available evidence indicates that Israeli forces were in control of the areas in question, no fighting was taking place there at the time, and no Palestinian forces were hiding among the civilians or using them as human shields."
On his part, a spokesman for the Israeli army recieved no evidence from HRW regarding this incident. He added that duringthe war, Hamas fighters used white flags in order to escapte from the Israeli forces.
