Israel-Hamas arms embargo urged

Israel has denied allegations of illegal use of white phosphorus rounds

Campaign group Amnesty International has called for an arms embargo against Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups after fighting last month.

The human rights group said it had evidence both Israel and Hamas had used weapons sourced from overseas to carry out attacks on civilians.

It called for the UN Security Council to impose the embargo on all parties.

Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the conclusions of the report, in which Amnesty accuses each of war crimes.

'War crimes'

In the Amnesty report, Israel is accused of illegal use of white phosphorus and other armaments supplied by the US in Gaza, while Hamas is condemned for launching unguided rockets into Israel.

Israel has denied any illegal use of white phosphorus munitions.

[Israeli] attacks resulted in the death of hundreds of children and other civilians and massive destruction of homes and infrastructure Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International Israel defends use of phosphorus

The weapon, which is used to lay smokescreens, can stick to human skin and burn its way to the bone. It is legal for use on open ground but its use in built-up areas is banned under the Geneva Convention.

Donatella Rovera, the head of an Amnesty fact-finding mission to southern Israel and Gaza, said: "Israeli forces used white phosphorus and other weapons supplied by the USA to carry out serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes.

"Their attacks resulted in the death of hundreds of children and other civilians and massive destruction of homes and infrastructure.

"At the same time, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups fired hundreds of rockets that had been smuggled in or made of components from abroad at civilian areas in Israel.

"Though far less lethal than the weaponry used by Israel, such rocket firing also constitutes a war crime and caused several civilian deaths."

The charity's report said it had found fragments and components of artillery, tank shells, fins from mortar rounds and aircraft-launched missiles and bombs in school playgrounds, hospitals and homes in Gaza.

In southern Israel, meanwhile, the remains of rockets fired indiscriminately at civilian areas by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups were also recovered, the report said.

Report 'tainted'

Mark Regev, spokesman for outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, told Reuters news agency the Amnesty report was "fundamentally flawed" and "tainted" because it used data provided by Hamas.

He said Israel only uses weapons that are legal under international law and that every effort was made to avoid civilian casualties.

"The report ignores the fact Hamas deliberately used the Palestinian civilian population as a human shield," he told Reuters.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the report "unfair", telling Reuters there was no comparison between the Israeli forces' weaponry and Palestinian "people who defend themselves with some rifles and other primitive means".

He denied that Hamas had acquired weapons from other countries.