| Operation "Autumn Clouds" | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theGaza–Israel conflict and theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict | |||||||
 Map of the Gaza Strip | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 82 Palestinians killed, at least half of whom civilians More than 260 wounded[4][5] | ||||||
In 2006 theIsrael Defense Forces launchedOperation "Autumn Clouds" (Hebrew:מבצע ענני סתיו,romanized: Mivtza Ananei Stav) beginning on 1 November 2006, following numerous rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel, when theIsraeli Defense Forces entered theGaza Strip triggering sporadic fighting nearBeit Hanoun. The operation was the first military endeavor undertaken by the Israeli military sinceOperation "Summer Rains" in the summer of 2006.[6] The operation was launched to stopPalestinian rocket attacks into Israel.
Palestinian government officials said on 7 November that IDF troops were beginning to withdraw, thus ending the operation. Fifty-three Palestinians, including 16 civilians, and an IDF soldier, were killed since 31 October.[7]
On 1 November 2006, in the largest military operation by Israel since Operation "Summer Rains", sixPalestinians and oneIsraeli soldier were killed and 35 people were wounded during araid on Beit Hanoun by theIsraeli military. The raid involved threeair strikes, sixtytanks backed byhelicopter gunships. TheAFP news agency reported that three houses were razed by Israelibulldozers and a dozen homes were hit by tank shells. The raid was the beginning of Operation "Autumn Clouds" by the Israeli military. Both thePalestinian AuthorityPresidentMahmoud Abbas and theprime minister,Ismail Haniyeh, have described the raid as amassacre.[8]
On 3 November 2006 onePalestinian woman was killed and ten were reported wounded byIsraeli military fire.[9][10] The women had gathered outside amosque in Beit Hanoun after an appeal by the local radio for women to rescue Palestinian militants trapped inside a mosque by disguising the militants as women.[11] The Israeli military claimed that their soldiers had spotted two Palestinian militants dressed in women's clothes hiding within the crowd of women, and that the militants were using the women as human shields.[12][5]
ThePrime Minister of thePalestinian Authority,Ismail Haniyeh, praised the women who he said "...led the protest to break the siege of Beit Hanoun".[9]
Palestinian government officials said on 7 November that IDF troops were beginning to withdraw, thus ending the operation. Fifty-three Palestinians, including 16 civilians, and an IDF soldier, were killed since 31 October.[7]
Several civilian houses in Beit Hanoun were struck by shells, fired by theIsraeli Defense Force. At least 19 Palestinian civilians were killed and 40 wounded.
One day later Assistant Secretary-GeneralAngela Kane of theUnited Nations Department of Political Affairs briefed theU.N. Security Council on the shelling. She "urged both sides in the conflict to 'return to dialogue'".[13] A resolution proposed byQatar as condemnation of the shelling was brought before the Security Council and was vetoed by theUnited States, with the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.John Bolton calling the proposed resolution 'one-sided' and 'politically motivated'. Following this rebuff, a watered-down andnon-binding resolution was passed by theU.N. General Assembly on 17 November 2006 expressing the assembly's 'distress' at the shelling and calling for a fact-finding mission to be sent toGaza. The resolution was passed by a majority including theEuropean Union member states. Among the several objectors were the United States andIsrael.[14]
On 16 November, Hamas andIslamic Jihad militants firing from Beit Hanoun launched a Qassam rocket at the Israeli town ofSderot, killing one and injuring one other. Israel's Prime Minister released a statement saying: "This is precisely the type of murderous attacks that we are trying to prevent. Israel will take any means necessary in protecting our citizens."[1]
Israel refused to cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council and obstructed any international investigation into the matter. AHuman Rights Council mandated mission which was to have been led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was refused to enter Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. On 11 November the United States vetoed a Security Council draft resolution calling for the establishment of a fact-finding mission into the events of 8 November in Beit Hanoun.
A UN report, written by the Special Rapporteur, concluded that ″it seems clear that the indiscriminate firing of shells into a civilian neighbourhood with no apparent military objective constituted a war crime, for which both the commanding officer and those who launched the 30-minute artillery attack should be held criminally responsible″.[4]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)