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Israel and Hamas have rejected an Amnesty International report into the 22-day Gaza conflict that started on December 27, 2008. The 117-page document accuses both sides of war crimes. Amnesty says: "The scale and intensity of the attacks on Gaza were unprecedented." The report observes that: "Some 300 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians who took no part in the conflict were among the 1,400 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces." Other accusations include Israel’s use of weapons that should never be used in built-up areas like Gaza. Amnesty accused Hamas of killing three Israelis in rocket attacks during the conflict. Israel invaded Gaza to stop Hamas firing rockets on Israeli towns.

Israeli officials believe Amnesty International is naturally biased towards Hamas. A military spokesman said the report clearly showed the human rights group siding with Hamas, and called it “unbalanced”. He said it was “a distorted view of the laws of war that does not comply with the rules implemented by democratic states battling terror." Israel insisted it did “everything humanly possible” to reduce the risk of civilian casualties. Officials accused Hamas of committing war crimes, saying they used children as human shields. A Hamas spokesman told reporters: "Hamas rejects all the accusations made against it in Amnesty's report," because Amnesty "haven't met or heard from any of Hamas' leaders".

www.breakingnewsenglish.com