By REUTERS
Published: January 28, 2010
Rejecting a United Nations report charging it with war crimes, the Islamist group Hamas said Thursday that three Israeli civilians killed in rocket attacks by its members last year during Israel’s Gaza offensive had been hit “by mistake.” It said its explanation was part of a 52-page response to the United Nations report, which accused it of making civilians targets by firing hundreds of rockets on Israeli communities. “Resistance fighters were warned against hitting civilians,” said Salah al-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas official. But the group Human Rights Watch said that during the three-week Gaza conflict, Hamas leaders had said that attacks against Israeli civilians were acceptable.
