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Report: "Israel's 2002 Hit of Hamas Leader Was Justified, Despite Civilian Casualties"
(Ha'aretz) Barak Ravid - On July 22, 2002, an Israeli plane dropped a 1-ton bomb on a house in Gaza City in which Hamas military wing commander Salah Shehadeh was staying. In addition to Shehadeh and his aide, 13 civilians, including eight children, were killed in the incident. A committee was appointed by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in 2008 to investigate the incident. A report culminating the panel's probe was submitted on Sunday and concluded: The "targeted killing against Shehadeh was imperative because of the increase and escalation in terrorist attacks since 2000, in a manner which led to a situation of actual war, classified as an 'armed conflict.'" The panel said the Hamas strongman had been the motivational, ideological, and operational force of Hamas. The report said that the collateral fatalities were "unintended, undesired and unforeseen," adding that they "did not stem from disregard or indifference to human lives." The civilian casualties were the result of "incomplete, unfocused and inconsistent intelligence information with regard to the presence of civilians in the structures adjacent to the Shehadeh house (the garage and huts), where most of the civilians died." The report concluded: "Despite the outcome which resulted in this instance, the means of targeted killing was and continues to be a lawful tool in the war against deadly terrorism, provided that the operation is carried out in accordance with the principles and rules set out by Israeli and international law and the ethical and moral norms on which they are based."