Bader Qdeih was 6 years old. Daniel Tregerman was 4.
Both are dead now.
A highly anticipated U.N. report into the violence between Israel and Palestinian armed groups last year has concluded that both sides might have committed war crimes.
The Comission of Inquiry report, which took nine months to complete, called the loss of life “heartbreaking.”
The statistics themselves are shocking: 1,462 Palestinian civilians killed, more than 11,000 injured. Six Israeli civilians dead; 1,600 hurt.
But as horrifying as those statistics are, it is the children who give us once more the capacity to care.
In August, Daniel was playing near his home at Kibbutz Nahal Oz. A siren sounded. A mere three seconds later — not enough time for him to reach the protected room with the rest of his family — a mortar hit the family car.
Shrapnel hit Daniel, killing him.
On the other side, Bader was seen pleading for help from people fleeing Khuza’a, 25 miles south of Gaza City. He was holding his intestines, which were coming out of his abdomen.
“I don’t want to die,” he said. “Don’t leave me.”
But his evacuation was delayed, and he did not survive.
Report: Children were ‘savagely affected’
“Palestinian and Israeli children were savagely affected by the events,” said the report, by an independent commission of inquiry set up by the United Nations. “Children on both sides suffered from bed-wetting, shaking at night, clinging to parents, nightmares and increased levels of aggressiveness.”
In Gaza, according to UNICEF, more than 1,500 children were orphaned.
The conflict was triggered by a series of events. On June 12, three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed by two members of Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza.
Israel initiated a crackdown on Hamas. Then Hamas responded with rocket fire toward Israeli towns. And Israel responded in turn on July 8 with a military operation that lasted seven weeks.
In its report, the independent commission — with which Israel declined to cooperate — says it “was able to gather substantial information pointing to serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law by Israel and by Palestinian armed groups. In some cases, these violations may amount to war crimes.”
‘Collaborators’ taken from prison and shot
In particular, the report points toward civilian casualties on each side and a lack of sufficient measures to prevent them. In addition, the report says the Palestinians’ extrajudicial executions of alleged “collaborators” — 16 of whom were dragged from their prison cells and shot by firing squads — might also constitute war crimes.
“The intent of some Palestinian armed groups to direct attacks against civilians is demonstrated by statements indicating that their intended targets were civilians or large population centers in Israel,” the report said.
On the other side, international humanitarian law requires that “effective advance warning be given of attacks which may affect the civilian population.” The report said the Israelis sometimes used what were called “roof-knocks” — strikes by small missiles before a major strike.
But the commission concluded that roof-knocks cannot be considered effective warnings.
“The commission was deeply moved by the immense suffering of the Palestinian and Israeli victims, who have been subjected to repeated rounds of violence,” the report said.
Reactions from both sides
Investigators found that, in at least six cases, Israel used precision-guided munitions in airstrikes against residential buildings without any military objective. In the ground war, the report says that Israel used high-explosive munitions in densely populated urban environments, such as Shujai’iya, which risk civilian lives.
Israel conducted more than 6,000 airstrikes on Gaza and used more than 5,000 tons of munitions in the ground offensive, including 14,500 tank shells and approximately 35,000 artillery shells, according to the report.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the report “biased” and said that any country would defend itself the way Israel did if it were attacked.
“Israel strongly defends itself and does everything possible according to international law,” Netanyahu told lawmakers Monday. “We are not the only ones who say that, and we published last week a detailed report from professionals which details the actions taken by us in accordance with international law as opposed to terrorists who shoot on civilians and hide behind civilians.”
Hamas released a statement welcoming the findings on alleged violations by the Israelis.
“This clear condemnation of the occupation entails bringing Israel’s leaders to the International Criminal Court, and all international courts to judge them for their crimes against our people,” the statement said.
The report also condemned Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. The report said the tunnels that stretched from Gaza into Israel were designed “to spread terror among the civilian population.”
“The use of rockets in the possession of Palestinian armed groups, indiscriminate in nature, and any targeted mortar attacks against civilians constitute violations of international humanitarian law, in particular the fundamental principle of distinction, which may amount to a war crime,” the report said.
Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the European Union.
The Hamas statement made no mention of the alleged violations on its side of the conflict.
