Amnesty International: Israel killed more than 650 Palestinians in 2006, up threefold from 2005

Associated Press:

Israeli troops killed more than 650 Palestinians last year — half of them unarmed civilians and including some 120 children — a threefold increase from 2005, a leading human rights group said Wednesday.

In its annual 2007 global report, Amnesty International also criticized Israel for deepening the poverty in Palestinian territories by withholding customs duties, and widening a network of blockades and other travel restrictions.

The group accused soldiers and settlers of committing "serious human rights abuses, including unlawful killings, against Palestinians, mostly with impunity." No such killings were documented in the report.

The number of Israelis killed by Palestinian armed groups diminished by half last year, to 27, including 20 civilian adults and one child, the report said.

By The Associated Press' count, 580 people were killed on the Palestinian side and 34 on the Israeli side in 2006.

Amnesty: Threefold increase in killings of Palestinians by IDF in 2006

Amnesty International Documents Israeli War Crimes