The news of a potential war crimes probe in the Gaza Strip comes as the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released the findings of its exhaustive report on Israel’s killings of Palestinians there. The report says well over half the nearly 1,400 Palestinians killed during Israel’s three-week assault were civilian. The civilian toll of 773 Palestinians excludes the 248 Hamas police officers also killed during the Israeli assault. B’Tselem Director Jessica Montell said the Israeli military has severely downplayed the number of Palestinian children who died in Gaza.

Jessica Montell: “The discrepancy between what the Israeli army has reported and what B’Tselem’s research has revealed is quite disturbing. The most blatant example, regarding children under the age of sixteen, the Israeli military has claimed that eighty-nine Palestinian children under sixteen were killed in Operation Cast Lead. B’Tselem visited families, took death certificates, testimonies, other information from the families on 240 Palestinian children under sixteen killed.”