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Israeli rights group says 320 minors died in Gaza war
Israel's Gaza offensive killed 1,387 Palestinians, with more than half of them, including 320 minors, not having taken part in the fighting, an Israeli human rights group said on Wednesday.
B'Tselem said 773 of the Palestinians killed in the December-January offensive "did not take part in the hostilities," a figure that conflicts with the Israeli army's insistence that most of the casualties were militants.
B'Tselem said 252 children under the age of 16 and 111 women were among those killed, while the military put the figures at 89 and 49 respectively.
Sixty-eight Palestinians aged 16 to 18 who did not take part in the fighting were among the fatalities, who also included 19 minors in the same age group "who took direct part in the hostilities," the rights group said.
"The extremely heavy civilian casualties and the massive damage to civilian property require serious introspection on the part of Israeli society," a B'Tselem statement said, calling on Israel to conduct an "independent and credible" investigation.