Amnesty accuses Israel of war crimes

ISRAEL committed war crimes, including unlawful killings, in Jenin and Nablus during a broad military offensive in the West Bank towns earlier this year, Amnesty International said yesterday.

The Israeli military said the offensive was launched in self-defence, in response to Palestinian terror attacks on Israeli civilians.

London- based Amnesty said there is "clear evidence that some of the acts committed by the Israel Defence Forces during Operation Defence Shield were war crimes."

Israeli carried out "unlawful killings, torture and ill-treatment of prisoners, wanton destruction of hundreds of homes," according to Amnesty.

Soldiers also blocked access to ambulances and denied humanitarian assistance, leaving the wounded and dead lying in the streets for days, and used Palestinians as "human shields" while searching for suspected militants, Amnesty said.

"Up to now, the Israeli authorities have failed in their responsibility to bring to justice the perpetrators of serious human rights violations," the Amnesty report said.

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based human rights group, said in a report released last week that plotters and perpetrators of Palestinian suicide attacks against Israeli civilians are guilty of "crimes against humanity," and Yasser Arafat hasn't done enough to deter them.

The Israeli army said the full Amnesty report had not been submitted and it would respond when it receives the complete document.