title: 2014 Gaza War

text: A number of tunnels leading into both Israel and Egypt were destroyed throughout the operation. There were reports that the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt were bringing an estimated $700 million into Gaza's economy through goods or services. Several Palestinians argued that the tunnels had been critical to supporting the residents of Gaza, either through the employment they provided or through the goods that they allowed in—goods which were otherwise not available unless shipped through Egypt. However, tunnels along the Israeli border serve a purely military purpose.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: During the ground invasion, Israeli forces destroyed livestock in Gaza. In Beit Hanoun, 370 cows were killed by tank shelling and airstrikes. In Beit Lahiya, 20 camels were shot by ground forces. Israel's Minister of Finance estimated that the operation would cost Israel NIS 8.5 billion (approximately US$2.5 billion), which is similar to Operation Cast Lead in 2009 and higher than Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012. The forecast included military and non-military costs, including military expenditure and property damage. The calculation indicated that if the operation lasted 20 days, the loss in GDP would be 0.4%.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: International reactions to the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict came from many countries and international organizations around the world.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Canada was supportive of Israel and critical of Hamas. The BRICS countries called for restraint on both sides and a return to peace talks based on the Arab Peace Initiative. The European Union condemned the violations of the laws of war by both sides, while stressing the "unsustainable nature of the status quo", and calling for a settlement based on the two-state solution. The Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab League, and most Latin American countries were critical of Israel, with some countries in the latter group withdrawing their ambassadors from Israel in protest. South Africa called for restraint by both sides and an end to "collective punishment of Palestinians".


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: There were many pro-Israel and pro-Palestine demonstrations worldwide, including inside Israel and the Palestinian territories.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Concerns were raised regarding rising anti-Semitism and related violence deemed related to the conflict.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledged Israel's right to defend itself, but urged restraint by both sides. Meanwhile, the United States Congress expressed vigorous support for Israel. It passed legislation providing Israel with an additional $225 million in military aid for missile defense with a bipartisan 395–8 vote in the House of Representatives and by unanimous consent in the Senate. This was in addition to strong measures supporting Israel's position passed with overwhelming support in both houses. Israel received strong statements of bipartisan support from the leadership and members of both houses of Congress for its actions during the conflict. A poll conducted in July found that 57% of Americans believed the operation was justified.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: During the U.S. presidential primary race of 2016, Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders criticized Israel for its treatment of Gaza, and in particular criticized Netanyahu for "overreacting" and causing unnecessary civilian deaths. In April 2016, the Anti-Defamation League called on Sanders to withdraw remarks he made to the "Daily News", which the ADL said exaggerated the death toll of the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. Sanders said "over 10,000 innocent people were killed", a number far in excess of Palestinian or Israel sources' estimates. In response, Sanders said that he accepted a corrected number of the death toll as 2,300 during the course of the interview, which was taped, and that he would make every effort to set the record straight. The written transcript of the interview failed to note that Sanders said "Okay" to the corrected number presented by the interviewer during the course of the interview.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: On 6 August 2014, thousands of Palestinians rallied in Gaza in support of Hamas, demanding an end to the blockade of Gaza. After the 26 August ceasefire, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research conducted a poll in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip: 79% of respondents said that Hamas had won the war and 61% said that they would pick Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as the Palestinian president, up from 41% before the war.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: According to "The Washington Post", a percentage of Gazans held Hamas accountable for the humanitarian crisis and wanted the militants to stop firing rockets from their neighborhoods to avoid Israeli reaction. Some of the Gazans have attempted to protest against Hamas, which routinely accuses protesters of being Israeli spies and has killed more than 50 such protesters. Around 6 August, Palestinian protesters reportedly attacked and beat up Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri because they blamed Hamas for inciting Operation Protective Edge.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: An unknown number of Palestinians, estimated in the hundreds or thousands, tried to flee to Europe due to the conflict. The Palestinian rights group Adamir collected the names of 400 missing persons. In what was described by International Organization for Migration as the "worst shipwreck in years", a boat carrying refugees was rammed by smugglers and capsized off the coast of Malta, resulting in the deaths of about 400 people. According to interviews with survivors, they paid smugglers between $2,000–$5,000 or used legal travel permits, to get to Egypt. One refugee who died had considered the boat to be rickety but told his father "I have no life in Gaza anyway".


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: A majority of the Israeli public supported Operation Protective Edge. A poll conducted after a temporary ceasefire came into effect during the war in July found that 86.5% of Israelis polled opposed the ceasefire. Another poll in July found 91% support for the operation among the Jewish public, with 85% opposed to stopping the war and 51% in support of continuing the war until Hamas was removed from power in Gaza, while 4% believed the war to be a mistake. Two other polls found 90% and 95% support for the war among the Jewish public. Towards the end of the war, after Israel announced the withdrawal of ground forces from Gaza, a poll found 92% support for the war among the Jewish public, and that 48% believed that the IDF had used the appropriate amount of firepower in the operation, while 45% believed it had used too little and 6% believed it had used too much. The poll also found that 62% of Israeli-Arabs believed the operation was unjustified while 24% believed it was justified, and that 62% believed too much firepower was used, 10% believed too little firepower was used, and 3% thought the appropriate amount of firepower was used.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The war saw strained relations between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. Many Arab businesses closed as part of a one-day general strike in solidarity with Gaza, leading to Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to call for the boycott of Arab businesses that participated in the strike. Thousands demonstrated against the war, including some who threw stones and blocked streets. About 1,500 Arabs were arrested over involvement in protests against the war. Numerous Arabs were fired or disciplined by their employers over comments against Israel and the war on social media. The most notable case was that of a psychological counselor who worked for the Lod municipality, who was terminated on the orders of the Mayor of Lod after writing a Facebook post expressing joy over the deaths of 13 Israeli soldiers in the Battle of Shuja'iyya. Arabs reported an increase in racism and violence from right-wing Jews. However, some Israeli Jews against the war joined in anti-war protests, and a handful were also arrested.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: There were continuous protests and clashes in the West Bank. The funeral of Mohammed Abu Khdeir on 4 July was joined by thousands of mourners, and was accompanied by clashes across east Jerusalem throughout the weekend. According to OCHA, 23 Palestinians were killed and 2,218 were wounded by the IDF, 38% of the latter by live fire. According to the PLO, 32 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank in the period 13 June – 26 August, nearly 1400 were wounded by Israeli fire and 1,700 were detained in the largest offensive in the West Bank since the Second Intifada. The PLO also stated that 1,472 settlement homes had been approved over the summer.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: During the war there were over 360 attacks on Jews from the West Bank, a spate that was thought by "The Jerusalem Post" to have "peaked" on 4 August with a tractor attack in Jerusalem and the shooting of a uniformed soldier in the French Hill neighborhood, leading to an increase in security in the city.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: On 1 September, Israel announced a plan to expropriate 1,000 acres of land in the West Bank, reportedly as a "reaction to the deplorable murder in June of three Israeli teenagers", which Amnesty International denounced as the "largest land grab in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the 1980s". The EU complained about the land expropriation and warned of renewed violence in Gaza; the US called it "counterproductive".


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Various human rights groups have argued that both Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli targeted destruction of homes of Hamas and other militia members violated international humanitarian law and might constitute war crimes, violations of international humanitarian law.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, accused Hamas militants of violating international humanitarian law by "locating rockets within schools and hospitals, or even launching these rockets from densely populated areas." She also criticized Israel's military operation, stating that there was "a strong possibility that international law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes", and specifically criticizing Israel's actions in Gaza as disproportionate.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Amnesty International found evidence that "[d]uring the current hostilities, Hamas spokespeople reportedly urged residents in some areas of the Gaza Strip not to leave their homes after the Israeli military dropped leaflets and made phone calls warning people in the area to evacuate", and that international humanitarian law was clear in that "even if officials or fighters from Hamas or Palestinian armed groups associated with other factions did in fact direct civilians to remain in a specific location in order to shield military objectives from attacks, all of Israel's obligations to protect these civilians would still apply." B'tselem found that Hamas had breached provisions of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), both firing from civilian areas and firing at Israeli civilian areas. It also stated that the Israeli policy of bombing homes, formulated by government officials and the senior military command, though claimed to be in conformity with IHL, was 'unlawful', and designed to 'block, a priori, any allegations that Israel breached IHL provisions', in that it relies on an interpretation that leaves 'no restrictions whatsoever on Israeli action' so that 'whatever method it chooses to respond to Hamas operations is legitimate, no matter how horrifying the consequences.'


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh urged the Palestinian Authority to sign the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC); the fact that the PA has not done so yet has prevented the ICC from launching a formal investigation. ICC prosecutor Geoffrey Nice said that a "decision to do nothing clearly emerges from the meeting" with the PA foreign minister Riad Malki. The UNHRC commissioned the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, led by William Schabas to investigate war crimes allegations by both sides. Israel criticized Schabas as biased because he repeatedly made statements against Israel and in support of Hamas, and has announced its own investigations of both military and civilian leadership and the conduct during the war. Schabas denied any bias, but on 2 February 2015 resigned from the position. According to "The New York Times", "Of 44 cases initially referred to army fact-finding teams for preliminary examination, seven have been closed, including one involving the death of eight members of a family when their home was struck on 8 July, the first day of the Israeli air campaign, and others are pending." Human rights organizations have expressed little confidence in Israel's measures, citing past experience. Moreover, several human rights organizations were denied access to Gaza by Israel, rendering it impossible for them to carry out on-site investigations. B'Tselem has refused to participate in the army investigation.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Twenty civilians from Shuja'iyya were killed while protesting against Hamas. A few days later, Hamas reportedly killed two Gazans and wounded ten after a scuffle broke out over food handouts.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The IDF stated on 31 July that more than 280 Hamas rockets malfunctioned and fell inside the Gaza strip, hitting sites including Al-Shifa Hospital and the Al-Shati refugee camp, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens. Hamas denied that any of its rockets hit the Gaza Strip., but Palestinian sources said numerous rocket launches ended up falling in Gaza communities and that scores of people have been killed or injured. Israeli Military sources said the failed Hamas launches increased amid heavy Israeli air and artillery strikes throughout the Gaza Strip. They said the failed launches reflected poorly-assembled rockets as well as the rush to load and fire projectiles before they are spotted by Israeli aircraft. While the Al-Shifa Hospital incident is disputed, early news reports have suggested that the strike was from an Israeli drone missile. Amnesty International concluded that the explosion at the Shati refugee camp on 28 July in which 13 civilians were killed was caused by a Palestinian rocket, despite Palestinian claims it was an Israeli missile.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: During the conflict, Hamas executed Gazan civilians it accused of having collaborated with Israel, thirty on 30 July. The United Nations Investigatory Commission concluded that at least 21 persons were killed in Gaza City in summary executions for collaboration between 5 and 22 August 2014 in Gaza City, most on the last date. 11 of those shot by firing squads on 22 August, a day after 3 al-Qassam brigade commanders had been killed in an Israeli strike at Rafah, had been taken from Al-Katiba prison. 7 were shot the same evening in "Operation Strangling Necks" directed against alleged collaborators. Norman Finkelstein compared the dilemma facing Hamas regarding collaboration within the ranks as similar to that expressed by Jewish leaders in the aftermath of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Abbas' Secretary-General, Al-Tayyib Abd al-Rahim, condemned the "random executions of those who Hamas called collaborators", adding that some of those killed had been detained for more than three years. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Palestinian human rights groups condemned the executions. Bodies of the victims were brought to hospitals to be added to the number of civilian casualties of Israeli operation. According to a Shin Bet official, "not even one" of the alleged collaborators executed by Hamas provided any intelligence to Israel, while the Shin Bet officially "confirmed that those executed during Operation Protective Edge had all been held in prison in Gaza in the course of the hostilities."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk confirmed that some victims were kept under arrest before the conflict began and were executed to satisfy the public without due legal procedure.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Shurat HaDin filed a suit with the ICC charging Khaled Mashaal with war crimes for the executions of 38 civilians. Hamas co-founder Ayman Taha was found dead; "Al-Quds Al-Arabi" reported he had been shot by Hamas for maintaining contact with the intelligence services of several Arab countries; Hamas stated he was targeted by an Israeli airstrike.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: On 26 May 2015, Amnesty International released a report saying that Hamas carried out extrajudicial killings, abductions and arrests of Palestinians and used the Al-Shifa Hospital to detain, interrogate and torture suspects. It details the executions of at least 23 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel and torture of dozens of others, many victims of torture were members of the rival Palestinian movement, Fatah.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The European Union condemned Hamas, and in particular condemned "calls on the civilian population of Gaza to provide themselves as human shields." Confirmation of this practice was produced by correspondents from France24, "The Financial Times", and RT, who respectively filmed a rocket launch pad which was placed in a civilian area next to a hotel where international journalists were staying, reported on rockets being fired from near Al-Shifa Hospital, and reported on Hamas firing rockets near a hotel. In September 2014, a Hamas official acknowledged to an Associated Press reporter that the group had fired rockets from civilian areas.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: While the Israeli government repeatedly stated that many civilian casualties were the result of Hamas using the Gazan population as human shields several British media organizations (including "The Guardian", and "The Independent") dismissed such claims as "myths" and the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen likewise said he "saw no evidence of Hamas using Palestinians as human shields." Additionally the London-based NGO, Amnesty International, dismissed such claims, stated it was unable to verify them and emphasized that even if they were true the IDF would still have a responsibility to protect civilians.<ref name="MDE 15/017/2014"></ref>


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The statements fall into two categories: using civilian structures like homes, mosques and hospitals to store munitions in or launch rockets from, and urging or forcing civilian population to stay in their homes, to shield militants. Israeli soldiers have also said Hamas operatives directly employed women and children as involuntary human shields to evade pursuit, while Hamas and others have said such accusations are false. Asa Kasher, who helped to write the Israel Defense Forces's Code of Conduct, argued that "Israel cannot forfeit its ability to protect its citizens against attacks simply because terrorists hide behind non-combatants. If it did so, it would be giving up any right to self-defense."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Navi Pillay accused Hamas militants of violating international humanitarian law by "locating rockets within schools and hospitals, or even launching these rockets from densely populated areas." But she added that this did not absolve Israel from disregarding the same law. The UNHCHR report recognised that "the obligation to avoid locating military objectives within densely populated areas is not absolute. The small size of Gaza and its population density make it difficult for armed groups to always comply with this requirement."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: In a 2015 report, Amnesty International states that "There are credible reports that, in certain cases, Palestinian armed groups launched rockets or mortars from within civilian facilities or compounds, including schools, at least one hospital and a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza City. In at least two cases, accounts indicate that attacks were launched in spite of the fact that displaced Gazan civilians were sheltering in the compounds or in neighbouring buildings.".


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Israel has stated that many mosques, schools and hospitals were used to store weapons. The IDF spokesman said that mortar shells were fired from a boys' school that served as a shelter for refugees. There were reports of the use of mosques to store weapons, and having launch sites very close to civilian structures. Gaza's Greek Orthodox archbishop has said that Hamas used the church compound, which sheltered 2000 Muslim civilians, to launch rockets into Israel. France 24 correspondent Gallagher Fenwick reported that a Hamas rocket-launching pad was placed in densely populated neighborhood of Gaza City, about 50 meters from the hotel where the majority of international media were staying and 100 meters from a UN building. Fenwick said that "children can be seen playing on and near the rocket launcher".


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Israel released footage of Palestinian militants launching rockets from a school and a cemetery. In at least one case a cemetery was targeted by an Israeli airstrike.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: According to Shabak, the Israeli internal security service, some militants, when interrogated, admitted using civilian buildings for military purposes. The admissions included more than ten mosques that were used for gatherings, training, storage of weapons, tunnel activities and military observations. During interrogations, one militant said that he was instructed in case of successful abduction using a tunnel to take the victim to a kindergarten located near its opening.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: On 24 August, Israel released part of what it says is a Hamas training manual on urban warfare, which states "the process of hiding ammunition inside buildings is intended for ambushes in residential areas and to move the campaign from open areas into built up and closed areas" and "residents of the area should be used to bring in the equipment...take advantage of this to avoid [Israeli] spy planes and attack drones." The manual also explains how fighting from within civilian population makes IDF operations difficult and what the benefits of civilian deaths are. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri dismissed the document as a "forgery...aimed at justifying the mass killings of Palestinian civilians."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: On 12 September, Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, acknowledged for the first time that Hamas did fire rockets from civilian areas and said "some mistakes were made".


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Israeli and Jewish critics of the war, including Uri Avnery and Gideon Levy wrote that in their own war of independence in 1948 (and earlier), Jews hid weapons in synagogues, kindergartens and schools as well. Other critics have noted that the headquarters of the IDF and Shin Bet, as well as an Israeli military training facility, are also located near civilian centers. Commentators brought up the current high population density of Gaza in conjunction with Palestinian military activities and installations being in or near civilian structures.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Using civilian structures to store munitions and launch attacks from is unlawful, and the Fourth Geneva Convention states that "The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations." On the other hand, another convention says that "Any violation of these prohibitions shall not release the parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with respect to the civilian population and civilians, including the obligation to take the precautionary measures."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: According to Harriet Sherwood, writer for the Guardian, even if Hamas were violating the law on this matter, it would not legally justify Israel's bombing of areas where civilians are known to be. Amnesty International stated that "Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks (where the likely number of civilian casualties or damage to civilian property outweighs the anticipated military advantage to be gained) are ... prohibited." It said that "Israel's relentless air assault on Gaza has seen its forces flagrantly disregard civilian life and property". Human Rights Watch has said that in many cases "the Israeli military has presented no information to show that it was attacking lawful military objectives or acted to minimize civilian casualties." An investigation by Human Rights Watch found that "in most of the sites we investigated so far (in this conflict) we found no valid military targets". A high-level group of former diplomats and military experts concluded that "the IDF acted within the bounds of international law during the war." The Israeli government issued a report saying that its military actions were "lawful and legitimate" and that "Israel made substantial efforts to avoid civilian deaths." The High Level Military Group, composed of military experts from Australia, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Britain, the United States, and Spain, released an assessment on Operation Protective Edge acknowledging Israel made "unprecedented efforts" to avoid civilian casualties exceeding international standards.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Medical units including hospitals and medical personnel have special protections under international humanitarian law. They lose their protection only if they commit, outside their humanitarian function, "acts harmful to the enemy." More than 25 medical facilities were damaged in the conflict; one attack on Al-Aqsa hospital killed 5 people. In many cases, ambulances and other medical personnel were hit. Amnesty International has condemned the attacks and said that there is "mounting evidence" that Israel deliberately targeted hospitals and medical personnel; Israel said it had not.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: A Finnish reporter from "Helsingin Sanomat" reported seeing rockets fired from near the Gaza Al-Shifa hospital. The IDF said that in several cases Hamas used Wafa hospital as a military base and used ambulances to transport its fighters. According to the Israeli Shabak, many of the militants it interrogated said that "everyone knew" that Hamas leaders were using hospitals for hiding. Hamas security reportedly wore police uniforms and blocked access to certain parts of the hospitals. One of the interrogated militants reportedly said that civilians seeking medical attention usually were thrown out by the security. The Washington Post described Al-Shifa hospital as a "de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices." Amnesty International reported that: "Hamas forces used the abandoned areas of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, including the outpatients' clinic area, to detain, interrogate, torture and otherwise ill-treat suspects, even as other parts of the hospital continued to function as a medical centre".


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: French-Palestinian journalist Radjaa Abu Dagga reported that Hamas militants interrogated him in Gaza's main hospital (Al-Shifa); his report was later removed from his paper's website at his request.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Mohammed Al Falahi, Secretary General of Red Crescent, UAE said that Hamas militants fired on Israeli planes from Red Crescent's field hospital in order to provoke retaliation, attacked Red Crescent team on their way back and planted land mines on their path.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The IDF has released photographs which it says show civilians on rooftops, and a video of Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri saying "the fact that people are willing to sacrifice themselves against Israeli warplanes in order to protect their homes [...] is proving itself". The EU has strongly condemned "calls on the civilian population of Gaza to provide themselves as human shields" and US Congress-members introduced bills condemning Hamas for using human shields. Civilians and activists in Gaza used themselves as 'human shields' in attempts to prevent Israeli attacks.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Hamas officials said human shields were not used. One Gazan stated that "nobody is safe and nobody can flee anywhere because everywhere is targeted." Many reporters, including from the BBC, the Independent and the Guardian said that they found no evidence of Hamas forcing Palestinians to stay and become unwilling human shields.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Fatah officials said that Hamas placed over 250 Fatah members under house arrest or in jail, putting them under threat of being killed by Israeli strikes and shooting them in the legs or breaking their limbs if they tried to leave. According to Abbas, more than 300 Fatah members were placed under house arrest and 120 were executed for fleeing.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Amnesty International reported that it did "not have evidence at this point" that Palestinian civilians were intentionally used by Hamas or Palestinian armed groups during the current hostilities to "shield" specific locations or military personnel or equipment from Israeli attacks". It additionally said that "public statements referring to entire areas are not the same as directing specific civilians to remain in their homes as "human shields" for fighters, munitions, or military equipment" and that "even if officials or fighters from Hamas or Palestinian armed groups ... did in fact direct civilians to remain in a specific location in order to shield military objectives ..., all of Israel's obligations to protect these civilians would still apply." Human Rights Watch said many of the attacks on targets appeared to be "disproportionate" and "indiscriminate".


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Human Rights Watch attributed many civilian deaths to the lack of safe places to flee to, and accused Israel of firing at fleeing civilians. It stated that there are many reasons that prevent civilians from abiding by warnings, and that the failure to abide by warnings does not make civilians lawful targets.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, pointed to Hamas's rocket attacks on Israeli cities as violations of international law and war crimes. Palestinian ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, Ibrahim Khraishi stated in a 9 July interview on PA TV that the "missiles that are now being launched against Israel – each and every missile constitutes a crime against humanity, whether it hits or misses, because it is directed at civilian targets".


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Hamas political figure Khaled Mashaal has defended the firing of rockets into Israel, saying that "our victims are civilians and theirs are soldiers". According to one report, "nearly all the 2,500–3,000 rockets and mortars Hamas has fired at Israel since the start of the war seem to have been aimed at towns", including an attack on "a kibbutz collective farm close to the Gaza border", in which an Israeli child was killed. Former Israeli Lt. Col. Jonathan D. Halevi stated that "Hamas has expressed pride in aiming long-range rockets at strategic targets in Israel including the nuclear reactor in Dimona, the chemical plants in Haifa, and Ben-Gurion Airport", which "could have caused thousands" of Israeli casualties "if successful".


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: According to Israel, Hamas continued to fire rockets at the Erez border crossing while sick and wounded Gazans tried to enter Israel for treatment. The Erez border crossing is the only legal border crossing between Gaza and Israel. Other people affected by this included journalists, UN workers, and volunteers.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has a number of institutions and schools in the Gaza region, and, as of 24 July 23 had been closed. Hamas took advantage of the closures to employ some of these vacant UNRWA buildings as weapon storage sites. UNRWA officials, on discovering that three such vacated schools had been employed for storing rockets, condemned Hamas's actions, calling it a "flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: On 16 July, 22 July, and on 29 July, UNRWA announced that rockets had been found in their schools. Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman stated that UNRWA had turned over some discovered rockets to Hamas. Israel Democracy Institute Vice President, Mordechai Kremnitzer, accused the UNRWA of war crimes for handing over the rockets, while Hebrew University Professor Robbie Sabel stated that the UNRWA "had no legal obligation to hand the rockets over to Israel" and had little other choice in the matter. UNRWA states the armouries had been transferred to local police authorities under the Ramallah national unity government's authority, in accordance with "longstanding UN practice in UN humanitarian operations worldwide". UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon ordered an investigation.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: On 30 July, the IDF said that they had discovered the entrance to a tunnel concealed inside a UNRWA medical clinic in Khan Yunis. The clinic was rigged with explosives, which then exploded and killed three Israeli soldiers. This report was later corrected by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the military unit that implements government policies in the Palestinian areas, who later that day stated that despite its UNRWA sign, the site was not registered as belonging to UNRWA.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Israeli officials said Hamas intimidates journalists in Gaza. A French reporter said that he was "detained and interrogated by members of Hamas's al-Qassam Brigade" in Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital, and forced to leave Gaza; he later asked the newspaper to remove his article from their site. Some journalists reported threats on social media against those who tweet about rocket launch sites. John Reed of "The Financial Times" was threatened after he tweeted about rockets being fired from near Al-Shifa Hospital, and RT correspondent Harry Fear was told to leave Gaza after he tweeted that Hamas fired rockets from near his hotel. Isra al-Modallal, head of foreign relations for the Hamas Information Ministry, said Hamas did deport foreign journalists who filmed Hamas rocket launches, stating that by filming the launch sites the journalists were collaborating with Israel. The Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel and the Palestinian territories protested what it called "blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox methods employed by the Hamas authorities ... against visiting international journalists in Gaza", saying several had been harassed or questioned over information they reported. It also said that Hamas was trying to "put in place a 'vetting' procedure" that would allow the blacklisting of specific journalists. "The Jerusalem Post" said UNRWA workers were threatened by Hamas at gun-point during the war, but Christopher Gunness, UNRWA spokesman, said "I have checked and double checked with sources in Gaza and there is no evidence of death threats made to UNRWA personnel."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Some FPA members disputed the FPA's comments, including "New York Times" Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren, who wrote "every reporter I've met who was in Gaza during [the] war says this Israeli/now FPA narrative of Hamas harassment is nonsense." "Haaretz" interviewed many foreign journalists and found "all but a few of the journalists deny any such pressure". They said Hamas's intimidation was no worse than what they got from the IDF, and said no armed forces would permit reporters to broadcast militarily sensitive information; and that, furthermore, most reporters seldom saw Hamas fighters, because they fought from concealed locations and in places that were too dangerous to approach.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Israel received some 500 complaints concerning 360 alleged violations. 80 were closed without criminal charges, 6 cases were opened on incidents allegedly involving criminal conduct, and in one case regarding 3 IDF soldiers in the aftermath of the Battle of Shuja'iyya, a charge of looting was laid. Most cases were closed for what the military magistrates considered to be lack of evidence to sustain a charge of misconduct. No mention was made of incidents during the "Black Friday" events at Rafah.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: According to Assaf Sharon of Tel Aviv University, the IDF was pressured by politicians to unleash unnecessary violence whose basic purpose was 'to satisfy a need for vengeance,' which the politicians themselves tried to whip up in Israel's population. Asa Kasher wrote that the IDF was pulled into fighting "that is both strategically and morally asymmetric" and that like any other army it made mistakes, but the charges it faces are "grossly unfair". The Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence, reporting on its analysis of 111 testimonies concerning the war by some 70 IDF soldiers and officers, cited one veteran's remark that "Anyone found in an IDF area, which the IDF had occupied, was not a civilian," to argue that this was the basic rule of engagement. Soldiers were briefed to regard everything inside the Strip as a threat. The report cites several examples of civilians, including women, being shot dead and defined as "terrorists" in later reports. Since leaflets were dropped telling civilians to leave areas to be bombed, soldiers could assume any movement in a bombed area entitled them to shoot. In one case that came under investigation, Lt Col Neria Yeshurun ordered a Palestinian medical centre to be shelled to avenge the killing of one of his officers by a sniper.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Many of those killed were civilians, prompting concern from many humanitarian organisations. An investigation by Human Rights Watch concluded that Israel had probably committed war crimes on three specific incidents involving strikes on UNWRA schools. Amnesty International stated that: "Israeli forces have carried out attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians, including through the use of precision weaponry such as drone-fired missiles, and attacks using munitions such as artillery, which cannot be precisely targeted, on very densely populated residential areas, such as Shuja'iyya. They have also directly attacked civilian objects." B'tselem has compiled an infogram listing families killed at home in 72 incidents of bombing or shelling, comprising 547 people killed, of whom 125 were women under 60, 250 were minors, and 29 were over 60. On 24 August, Palestinian health officials said that 89 families had been killed.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Nine people were killed while watching the World Cup in a cafe, and 8 members of a family died that Israel has said were inadvertently killed. A Golani soldier interviewed about his operations inside Gaza said they often could not distinguish between civilians and Hamas fighters because some Hamas operatives dressed in plainclothes and the night vision goggles made everything look green. An IDF spokesperson said that Hamas "deploys in residential areas, creating rocket launch sites, command and control centers, and other positions deep in the heart of urban areas. By doing so, Hamas chooses the battleground where the IDF is forced to operate." The highest-ranking U.S. military officer, Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that "Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties". Later in his speech he said, "the Pentagon three months ago sent a 'lessons-learned team' of senior officers and non-commissioned officers to work with the IDF to see what could be learned from the Gaza operation, to include the measures they took to prevent civilian casualties and what they did with tunneling." Col. Richard Kemp told "The Observer", "IDF has taken greater steps than any other army in the history of warfare to minimise harm to civilians in a combat zone"


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: In many cases the IDF warned civilians prior to targeting militants in highly populated areas in order to comply with international law. Human rights organizations including Amnesty International, confirmed that in many cases, Palestinians received warnings prior to evacuation, including flyers, phone calls and roof knocking. A report by Jaffa based NGO Physicians for Human Rights, released in January 2015, said that Israel's alert system had failed, and that the roof-knock system was ineffective. The IDF was criticized for not giving civilians enough time to evacuate. In one case, the warning came less than one minute before the bombing. Hamas has told civilians to return to their homes or stay put following Israeli warnings to leave. In many cases, Palestinians evacuated; in others, they have stayed in their homes. Israel condemned Hamas's encouragement of Palestinians to remain in their homes despite warnings in advance of airstrikes. Hamas stated that the warnings were a form of psychological warfare and that people would be equally or more unsafe in the rest of Gaza.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Amnesty International said that "although the Israeli authorities claim to be warning civilians in Gaza, a consistent pattern has emerged that their actions do not constitute an "effective warning" under international humanitarian law." Human Rights Watch concurred. Many Gazans, when asked, told journalists that they remained in their houses simply because they had nowhere else to go. OCHA's spokesman has said "there is literally no safe place for civilians" in Gaza. Roof knocking has been condemned as unlawful by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as well as the United Nations Fact Finding Mission in the 2008 war.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Israel targeted many homes in this conflict. UNWRA official Robert Turner estimated that 7,000 homes were demolished and 89,000 were damaged, some 10,000 of them severely. This has led to many members of the same family being killed. B'Tselem documented 59 incidents of bombing and shelling, in which 458 people were killed. In some cases, Israel has stated that these homes were of suspected militants and were used for military purposes. "The New York Times" noted that the damage in this operation was higher than in the previous two wars and stated that 60,000 people had been left homeless as a result. The destruction of homes has been condemned by B'Tselem, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as unlawful, amounting to collective punishment and war crimes.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Israel destroyed the homes of two suspects in the case of the abduction and killing of the three teenagers. The house demolition has been condemned by B'Tselem as unlawful.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Palestinians returning to their homes during the ceasefire reported that IDF soldiers had trashed their homes, destroyed home electronics such as TV sets, spread feces in their homes, and carved slogans such as "Burn Gaza down" and "Good Arab = dead Arab" in walls and furniture. The IDF did not respond to a request by "The Guardian" for comment.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: On 5 November 2014, Amnesty International published a report examining eight cases where the IDF targeted homes, resulting in the deaths of 111 people, of whom 104 were civilians. Barred from access to Gaza by Israel since 2012, it conducted its research remotely, supported by two contracted Gaza-based fieldworkers who conducted multiple visits of each site to interview survivors, and consulted with military experts to evaluate photographic and video material. It concludes, in every case, that "there was a failure to take necessary precautions to avoid excessive harm to civilians and civilian property, as required by international humanitarian law" and "no prior warning was given to the civilian residents to allow them to escape." As Israel did not disclose any information regarding the incidents, the report said it was not possible for Amnesty International to be certain of what Israel was targeting; it also said that if there were no valid military objectives, international humanitarian law may have been violated, as attacks directed at civilians and civilian objects, or attacks which are otherwise disproportionate relative to the anticipated military advantage of carrying them out, constitute war crimes.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The report was dismissed by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs as "narrow", "decontextualized", and disattentive of alleged war crimes perpetrated by Hamas. Amnesty, it asserted, was serving as "a propaganda tool for Hamas and other terror groups." Anne Herzberg, legal adviser for NGO Monitor, questioned the accuracy of the UN numbers used in the report, saying that they "essentially come from Hamas."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: On 23 July, twelve human rights organizations in Israel released a letter to Israeli government warning that "Gaza Strip's civilian infrastructure is collapsing". They wrote that "due to Israel's ongoing control over significant aspects of life in Gaza, Israel has a legal obligation to ensure that the humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza are met and that they have access to adequate supplies of water and electricity." They note that many water and electricity systems were damaged during the conflict, which has led to a "pending humanitarian and environmental catastrophe". The Sydney Morning Herald reported that "almost every piece of critical infrastructure, from electricity to water to sewage, has been seriously compromised by either direct hits from Israeli air strikes and shelling or collateral damage."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Between five and eight of the 10 power lines that bring electricity from Israel were disabled, at least three by Hamas rocket fire. On 29 July, Israel was reported to bomb Gaza's only power plant, which was estimated to take a year to repair. Amnesty International said the crippling of the power station amounted to "collective punishment of Palestinians". Human Rights Watch has stated that "[d]amaging or destroying a power plant, even if it also served a military purpose, would be an unlawful disproportionate attack under the laws of war". Israel immediately denied damaging the power plant, stating there was "no indication that [IDF] were involved in the strike ... The area surrounding the plant was also not struck in recent days." Contradicting initial reports that it would take a year to repair, the power plant resumed operation on 27 October.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: 17 journalists were killed in the conflict, of which five were off-duty and two (from Associated Press) were covering a bomb disposal team's efforts to defuse an unexploded Israeli artillery shell when it exploded. In several cases, the journalists were killed while having markings distinguishing them as press on their vehicles or clothing. IDF stated that in one case it had precise information that a vehicle marked "TV" that was hit killing one alleged journalist was in military use. Several media outlets, including the offices of "Al-Jazeera", were hit. The International Federation of Journalists has condemned the attacks as "appalling murders and attacks". Journalists are considered civilians and should not be targeted under international humanitarian law.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The Israeli army said it does not target journalists, and that it contacts news media "in order to advise them which areas to avoid during the conflict". Israel has made foreign journalists sign a waiver stating that it is not responsible for their safety in Gaza, which Reporters Without Borders calls contrary to international law. The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, who in August 2014 condemned the killing of Al Aqsa TV journalist Abdullah Murtaja, withdrew her comments after it was revealed that Murtaja was also a combatant in Hamas's Al Qassam Brigade, and said she "deplore[d] attempts to instrumentalize the profession of journalists by combatants"


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: ITIC published a report analyzing a list of 17 names published by Wafa News Agency based on information originating from Hamas-controlled Gaza office of the ministry of information that supposedly belong to journalists killed in the operation. The report says that 8 of the names belong to Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives, or employees of the Hamas media.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Israel bombed Hamas's Al-Aqsa radio and TV stations because of their "propaganda dissemination capabilities used to broadcast the messages of (Hamas's) military wing." Reporters Without Borders and Al-Haq condemned the attacks, saying "an expert committee formed by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia, to assess the NATO bombing campaign of 1999, specified that a journalist or media organization is not a legitimate target merely because it broadcasts or disseminates propaganda." The U.S. government classifies Al-Aqsa TV as being controlled by Hamas, a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist," and states that it "will not distinguish between a business financed and controlled by a terrorist group, such as Al-Aqsa Television, and the terrorist group itself."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay accused Israel of having "defied international law by attacking civilian areas of Gaza such as schools, hospitals, homes and U.N. facilities. "None of this appears to me to be accidental," Pillay said. "They appear to be defying – deliberate defiance of – obligations that international law imposes on Israel."" The Jaffa based NGO Physicians for Human Rights stated in a report in January 2015 that the IDF had used human shields during the war. IDF criticized the report's conclusions and methodology which "cast a heavy shadow over its content and credibility". Defense for Children International-Palestine reported that 17-year-old Ahmad Abu Raida was kidnapped by Israeli soldiers who, after beating him up, used him as a human shield for five days, forcing him to walk in front of them with police dogs at gunpoint, search houses and dig in places soldiers suspected there might be tunnels. Several of the key claims could not be verified because his Hamas-employed father said he forgot to take photographs of the alleged abuse marks and discarded all the clothing IDF soldiers supposedly provided Abu Raida when he was freed.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The IDF confirmed that the troops suspected Ahmad of being a militant based on the affiliation of his father (a senior official in Gaza's Tourism Ministry) with Hamas and so detained him during the ground operation. The IDF and Israeli authorities challenged the credibility of DCI-P noting their "scant regard for truth". The IDF Military Advocate General opened criminal investigation into the event.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The Gazan militants used different kinds of rockets, including the Syrian-made (Chinese-designed) M-302 and the locally-made M-75, which had the range to hit Tel-Aviv. Other rockets include the Soviet Katyushas and Qassams. The Israeli Defense Force reported that at the beginning of the 2014 conflict, Hamas had close to 6,000 rockets in its possession. This included 1,000 self-produced short range rockets (15–20 km range), 2,500 smuggled short range rockets, 200 self-made Grad rockets, and 200 smuggled Grad rockets. In addition, to these short range rockets, Hamas held an assortment of mid and long range rockets, both self-made and smuggled, that totaled over several thousand.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: According to the Fars News Agency, Fajr-5 (long range Iranian) rockets had a warhead of 150–200 kg. According to Theodore Postol, the vast majority of Gazan artillery rocket warheads contained 10- to 20-pound explosive loads. Postol stated that this fact made bomb shelters more effective for protection. Mark Perry stated that the "vast majority of the rockets are unsophisticated Qassams, with a 10–20 kg warhead and no guidance system" and that "Hamas' arsenal is considerably weaker today than it was in 2012". Regarding the Fajr-5, he stated that Iran had not transferred full-fledged rockets to Hamas, it has only transferred technology to manufacture them. He also stated that "its guidance system was crude, at best, and its warhead nearly non-existent."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The UNHRC, quoting Amnesty International, stated that armed groups in Gaza have used BM-21 Grad rockets with ranges varying from 20 km to 48 km, in addition to locally produced rockets reaching as far as 80 km, such as the M-75 and J-80. The majority of the rockets had no guidance system. Mortars having a range of up to 8 km, have been actively used along the Green Line. Other weapons included rocket-propelled grenades, home-made drones, SA 7 Grail anti-aircraft missiles, Kornet 9M133 anti-tank guided missiles, and a wide array of small arms, rifles, machine guns and hand grenades.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: According to the IDF, of all the 4,564 projectiles fired at Israel, 224 hit built-up areas, 735 were intercepted by the Iron Dome, 875 fell inside Gaza and the rest fell in open territory or failed to launch.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: According to OCHA, Palestinian militants fired 4,844 rockets and 1,734 mortar shells towards Israel. 25% of Gazan rockets had sufficient effectiveness to threaten to reach populated areas.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Palestinian militant groups have also used anti-tank rockets against armoured vehicles, as well as against groups of Israeli soldiers. Some armored personnel carriers were hit by missiles, and the Israeli Trophy system reportedly intercepted at least 15 anti-tank missiles shot at Merkava IV tanks. Anti-tank mines had also been used against armored vehicles.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Israel used air, land and naval weaponry. The artillery includes Soltam M71 guns and US-manufactured Paladin M109s (155-mm howitzers). The aerial weaponry includes drones and F-16 fighter jets. Drones are used to constantly monitor the Gaza strip. The IDF fired 14,500 tank shells and 35,000 other artillery shells during the conflict.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: According to OCHA figures, Israel fired 5,830 missiles in 4,028 IAF air raids, the IDF's ground forces shot off 16,507 artillery and tank projectiles, and the Israeli navy's off-shore fleet fired 3,494 naval shells, into the Gaza Strip.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Overall, Israel fired 34,000 unguided shells into Gaza. Of these 19,000 were high-explosive artillery shells, marking a 533% rise in the launching of artillery ordnance compared to Operation Cast Lead. Shelling of civilian areas with shells using Doher howitzers, with a kill radius of , also increased.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: According to Palestinian authorities, 8,000 bombs and 70,000 artillery shells, or 20,000 tons of explosives (the equivalent of two low-yield tactical nuclear weapons), had been dropped on Gaza. The Sydney Morning Herald quoted an anonymous expert who estimated that 10,000 tonnes of explosives were dropped from the air alone, which does not include tank and artillery shells.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: The performance of the Iron Dome defense system was considered effective, achieving an almost 90% success rate. Israel's early warning sirens and extensive shelters have been an effective defense against Gazan rocketry. They are less effective against short-range mortars because the residents have less time to react.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Portrayals of the conflict in different media outlets varied. U.S. news sources were often more sympathetic to Israel while British news sources featured more criticism of Israel. Commentators on both sides claimed that the media was biased either for or against Israel. According to an article by Subrata Ghoshroy published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, most United States media focused on Hamas rockets, of which only 3% actually strike populated areas (causing little damage), with less attention paid to Palestinian casualties, or to why Gazans back Hamas's rocket campaign. As the conflict progressed and Palestinian deaths increased, British media became somewhat more critical of Israel. Within Israel, the newspaper "Haaretz" issued an editorial stating that the "soft Gaza sand... could turn into quicksand" for the Israeli military and also warned about the "wholesale killing" of Palestinian civilians; the article declared: "There can be no victory here". The "Sydney Morning Herald" apologised for running an allegedly antisemitic cartoon after Australian Attorney-General George Brandis denounced it as "deplorable." Israel was accused of waging a propaganda war, and on both sides, sympathetic authors released video games relating to the conflict. In Israel, according to Naomi Chazan, the Gaza war sparked "an equally momentous conflagration at the heart of Israeli society": attempts to question government policy were met with severe verbal and physical harassment, incidents of Arab-bashing occurred daily, and 90% of internet posts on the war were found to be racist or to constitute incitement.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: A number of diplomatic efforts were made to resolve the conflict. These attempts included efforts by United States Secretary of State John Kerry to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, like the meeting in Paris with European G4 foreign ministers and his counterparts of Qatar and Turkey. Egypt brokered a number of ceasefires between Hamas and Israel.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: An international conference took place on 12 October 2014 in Cairo, where donors pledged US$5.4 billion to the Palestinians with half of that sum being "dedicated" to the reconstruction of Gaza, which was more than the US$4 billion Abbas first sought. Japan pledged US$100 million in January 2015. The EU pledged €450 million to rebuilding Gaza.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: As of 1 February 2015, only US$125 million of the $2.7 billion for reconstruction had been paid out, while tens of thousands of Gazans were still homeless. In February 2015, 30 international aid organizations including UNRWA, the World Health Organization as well as NGOs such as Oxfam, ActionAid and Save the Children International released a statement saying that: "we are alarmed by the limited progress in rebuilding the lives of those affected and tackling the root causes of the conflict." They stated that "Israel, as the occupying power, is the main duty bearer and must comply with its obligations under international law. In particular, it must fully lift the blockade within the framework of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1860 (2009)". Catherine Weibel, UNICEF's Communication Chief in Jerusalem said: "Four infants died from complications caused by the bitter cold in Gaza in January... All were from families whose houses were destroyed during the last conflict and were living in extremely dire conditions."


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Only one percent of the needed building material had been delivered. The mechanism agreed between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, meant to allow delivery of such material, have not worked.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: Hamas spokesman blamed Israel for causing an electricity crisis. Israel provided 50,000 liters of fuel for generators running during blackouts and repaired three power lines damaged during storms within a week.


title: 2014 Gaza War

text: On 15 September 2014, a Fatah spokesperson accused Hamas of misappropriating US$700 million of funds intended to rebuild Gaza. On 6 January Hamas spokesperson said that Palestinian national consensus government ministers admitted redirecting rebuilding funds to PNA budget. Israel's military estimated that 20% of cement and steel allowed by Israel to be delivered to Gaza for the reconstruction efforts were taken by Hamas. Arne Gericke, a member of the European Parliament said "It would sicken most [European] taxpayers to know that the EU itself could be directly contributing to the tragic cycle of violence".


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), also known as intracranial bleed, is bleeding within the skull. Subtypes are intracerebral bleeds (intraventricular bleeds and intraparenchymal bleeds), subarachnoid bleeds, epidural bleeds, and subdural bleeds. More often than not it ends in a lethal outcome.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Intracranial hemorrhage is a serious medical emergency because the buildup of blood within the skull can lead to increases in intracranial pressure, which can crush delicate brain tissue or limit its blood supply. Severe increases in intracranial pressure (ICP) can cause brain herniation, in which parts of the brain are squeezed past structures in the skull.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Trauma is the most common cause of intracranial hemorrhage. It can cause epidural hemorrhage, subdural hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Other condition such as hemorrhagic parenchymal contusion and cerebral microhemorrhages can also be caused by trauma.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Non-traumatic causes of hemorrhage includes: hypertension, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, hemorrhagic conversion of ischemic infarction, cerebral aneurysms, dural arteriovenous fistulae, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, cerebral vasculitis and mycotic aneurysm.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: CT scan (computed tomography) of the brain (without any iodinated contrast), is the initial imaging choice because of its high speed, good accessibility in hospitals, high sensitivity in detecting brain injuries or brain diseases, thus helping to triage patients in emergency department in a timely manner and urgent neurosurgical intervention can be administered. Examples of brain diseases that require urgent intervention are: large volume hemorrhage, brain herniation, and cerebral infarction. Other advantages of CT over MRI scan are ability to detect bony fractures, vascular injury, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak. It also does not need to screen for MRI safety of implants/foreign body especially for penetrating or blast injuries.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: However, MRI has higher sensitivity than CT scan for the detection of epidural hemorrhage, subdural hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, nonhemorrhagic cortical contusions, hemorrhagic parenchymal contusions, brainstem injuries, and white matter axonal injuries. If CT scan shows normal findings, but the subject has persistent neurological symptoms, MRI is also indicated. However, MRI safety concerns on metallic foreign bodies, limited availability, longer imaging time, high sensitivity to motion, and higher cost limits the usefulness of MRI.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Swirl sign on CT scan (areas of low densities with surrounding areas of high densities) is indicative of active intracranial bleeding, high chance of death within one month, and poor subject's function in three months if the subject is still alive.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Types of intracranial hemorrhage are roughly grouped into intra-axial and extra-axial. Intra-axial hemorrhage is bleeding within the brain itself, or cerebral hemorrhage. This category includes intraparenchymal hemorrhage, or bleeding within the brain tissue, and intraventricular hemorrhage, bleeding within the brain's ventricles (particularly of premature infants). Intra-axial hemorrhages are more dangerous and harder to treat than extra-axial bleeds. Hemorrhagic parenchymal contusions and cerebral microhemorrhages are examples of traumatic intra-axial bleeds.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Extra-axial hemorrhage, bleeding that occurs within the skull but outside of the brain tissue, falls into three subtypes: epidural hematoma, subdural hematoma, and subarachnoid hemorrhage.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: This condition most commonly occurred in those with significant head movement or head impact. It is caused by injuries of small arterial or venous vessels, causing hemorrhage within the brain parenchyma, and give rise to hyperdense lesion on CT scan. MRI is more sensitive than CT scan in detecting such small hemorrhagic contusions, with the use of gradient echo sequence. Contusions are more commonly seen in the brain parenchyma near base of the skull such as inferior frontal lobes and temporal lobes as a result of Coup contrecoup injury. Those with parenchymal contusion would require frequent follow-up imaging because such contusions may grow large enough to become hemorrhage and exerts significant mass effect on the brain.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Cerebral microhemorrhages is a smaller form of hemorrhagic parenchymal contusion and are typically found in white matter. Such microhemorrhages are difficult to be detected on CT scan, but easily detected on gradient echo and susceptibility weighted imaging on MRI scan as hypointense susceptibility blooming. Such microhemorrhages are frequently associated with diffuse axonal injury and located near the grey-white matter junction.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Epidural hemorrhage (extradural hemorrhage, EDH) which occur between the dura mater (the outermost meningeal layer) and the skull, is caused by trauma. It does not cross the suture lines of the skull because the superifical dural layer is attached tightly to the skull along the suture lines. Unless rarely, fracture involves the suture lines (more common in children), then epidural hematoma may cross the suture lines. As the blood accumulated in the epidural space is confined within suture lines, accumulation of additional blood will cause bulging in this space, and thus resulting in a typical "biconvex" appearance on CT scans. EDH can be due to arterial or venous rupture depending on the locations. Arterial injuries results in more rapidly growing hematoma when compared to venous injuries. At the pterion region, middle meningeal artery is most commonly affected. When fracture is crossing areas where dural venous sinuses resides, venous hemorrhage can occur such as falx cerebri, tentorium cerebelli, and vertex (where superior sagittal sinus resides). Anterior temporal EDH is usually caused by sphenoparietal sinus. Such EDH is limited and does not require surgery because its extension is confined within sphenosquamosal suture and orbital fissure. In 20 to 50% of epidural hemorrhage cases, there is a lucid interval where a person regained consciousness after being knocked unconscious and then followed by deterioration of consciousness after that.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: When the epidural hematoma is large enough, it will cause mass effect on contralateral brain which lead to midline, subfalcine (below the falx cerebri), and trans-tentorial (crossing tentorium cerebelli) herniations. This phenomenon can cause the subject to lose consciousness and eventually death. Therefore, large EDH requires emergent surgical clot evacuation. Embolisation of middle meningeal artery is performed if the hemorrhage is medium or small.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Subdural hemorrhage (SDH) results from tearing of the bridging veins in the subdural space between the dura and arachnoid mater. It can cross the suture lines, but not across dural reflections such as falx cerebri or tentorium cerebelli. Therefore, subdural hematoma always limited to one side of the brain. Density of SDH reduces as it progresses from acute to chronic forms. However, areas with low density may not represent chronic SDH entirely as unclotted blood products that are due to active bleed can also give low density appearance on CT scans especially those with coagulopathy. Those with SDH that have same density with brain parenchyma may represent acute bleed such as those with anemia, arachnoid tear, and the mixing of hemorrhage and CSF. SDH usually have high or mixed densities during first two days of trauma, followed by isodensity at 11 days after trauma, and hypodensity after 14 days of trauma. Membranes with granulation tissue can rupture within SDH, and give high density appearance on CT scan. Over a prolonged period of time, calcifications can form. SDH can be treated with burr hole drainage, craniotomy or port system placement for blood clot evacuation, or middle meningeal artery embolisation.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Subdural hematoma maybe less acute than epidural hematoma due to slower blood accumulation, but it still has the potential to cause brain herniation that may require surgical evacuation. Clinical features depend on the site of injury and severity of injury. Patients may have a history of loss of consciousness but they recover and do not relapse. Clinical onset occurs over hours. Complications include focal neurologic deficits depending on the site of hematoma and brain injury, increased intracranial pressure leading to herniation of brain and ischemia due to reduced blood supply and seizures.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: A "subarachnoid hemorrhage" (SAH) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space—the area between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the brain. Trauma can also cause SAH when the arteries and veins coursing through the subarachnoid space are ruptured. It is usually located at the cerebral sulci near the vertex of the head and spare the basal cisterns on CT scan. Severe trauma can cause SAH in all parts of the brain. When the SAH volume is large, rarely it can cause cerebral infarction a few days after trauma due to arterial vasospasm. Although CT scan is performed more often than MRI to detect SAH, MRI is more sensitive than CT in this aspect. SAH shows hyperintense signal of Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence and blooming artifact on susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI).


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Computed tomography angiography (CT angiography) or Magnetic resonance angiography (MR angiography) should be done if fracture involves the carotid canal, because in such cases, posttraumatic vasospasm can occur, thus cutting blood supply to the brain. Besides, intracranial hemorrhage that are atypical for trauma should also be investigated further with CT or MR angiography to look for other causes of intracranial bleeds apart from trauma causes. Such atypical patterns includes: isolated SAH in the basal cisterns, isolated large-volume SAH in the Sylvian fissure, and isolated SAH in the anterior interhemispheric fissure. These cases warrants investigations to look for aneurysms that can cause such bleeding.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Intracranial bleed in hypertensive subjects usually occurs at 50 to 60 years of life with 30 to 50% chance of death. Such hemorrhages are typically located in the basal ganglia, cerebellum, or occipital lobes. Other location such as bleed within the cerebral cortex and intracranial bleed in people younger than 50 years should prompt further investigations on other causes of bleed such as brain tumour or cerebral arteriovenous malformation. The bleed can be very small without any significant effect on surrounding brain or large hemorrhage that exerts mass effecct on adjacent brain. Follow up CT scan is recommended. Those with extension of bleed into the ventricular system, expansion of bleeding, or increasing cerebral oedema on CT scan gives poorer prognosis. CT angiography (CTA) of brain can be performed to investigate the source of bleeding. An image during the delayed phase of the CTA may be taken to look for pooling of contrast that signifies active bleeding (known as "Spot sign"). Presence of "Spot sign" signifies poor clinical outcome for the subject.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is the deposition of Amyloid beta peptide protein within the brain. Accumulation of such peptide proteins within the walls of the arteries can cause weakening of the walls and causes microhemorrhages, SAH within the cerebral sulci or large cerebral intraparenchymal bleed. SAH in CAA can be differentiated from vasculitis by its presentations. SAH in CAA usually occurs in those who age more than 60 years, temporary motor and sensory deficits, and intracranial bleed in white matter adjacent to cerebral cortex. Basal ganglia, posterior fossa, and brainstem are spared. Boston criteria is used to determine the likelihood of a cerebral hemorrhage due to CAA. Definitive diagnosis of CAA is by performing brain biopsy


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: CT scan may show hyperdense intra-axial hemorrhage in the subcortical region. Diffuse white matter hypodensities in both cerebral hemispheres may represents microangiopathic changes. On MRI these lesions will be presented as blooming artifact on gradient echo and susceptibility weighted imaging.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: 43% of those with infarcted brain tissue will develop hemorrhagic conversion. Risk of hemorrhagic is further increased with recanalisation of veins or arteries. Several types of hemorrhages can occur such as petechial hemorrhages around the infarcted margin (HI1), confluent petechial hemorrhages within the infarcted tissue (HI2), hematoma occupying less than 30% of the infarcted tissue (PH1), hematoma involving greater than 30% of infarcted tissue with small mass effect (PH2), and hematoma involving greater than 30% of the infarcted tissue with significant mass effect. However, only PH2 is clinically significant. Those who has infarction should be monitored frequently with CT brains to access hemorrhagic conversions or worsening vasogenic oedema that may require neurosurgical decompression. Dual energy CT scan maybe useful to differentiate the high densities caused by reperfusion hemorrhage (bleeding after endovascular stroke treatment) and high density due to iodinated contrast administered during cerebral angiography.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Besides from head injury, it may occur spontaneously, usually from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm (focal outpouchings with weakened walls on the arteries on the brain surface that are prone to rupture). Symptoms of SAH include a severe headache with a rapid onset (thunderclap headache), vomiting, confusion or a lowered level of consciousness, and sometimes seizures. CT scan has 100% sensitivity of detecting SAH at 6 to 24 hours after symptoms onset. The diagnosis is generally confirmed with a CT scan of the head. If CT scan is normal but SAH is still strongly suspected, lumbar puncture can be done at six to twelfth hours after the onset of headache. This is determine the presence of blood within the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Those with SAH will have blood and bilirubin within CSF because of degradation red blood cells. Meanwhile, those who has blood within CSF due to traumatic lumbar puncture will not have bilirubin within CSF. SAH is generally located within basal cisterns, extends diffusely to all subarachnoid spaces (cerebral sulci) or into the ventricular system, or brain parenchyma. Modified Fisher scale is used to describe the volume and distribution of SAH, just predicting the probability of cerebral artery vasospasm after SAH.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Treatment is by prompt neurosurgery or radiologically guided interventions with medications and other treatments to help prevent recurrence of the bleeding and complications. Since the 1990s, many aneurysms are treated by a minimal invasive procedure known as endovascular coiling, which is carried out by instrumentation through large blood vessels. However, this procedure has higher recurrence rates than the more invasive craniotomy with clipping.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Cerebral ateriovenous malformation (Cerebral AVM) is characterised by abnormal shunting between cerebral arteries and veins without going through capillaries. Instead the blood goes through a collection of small vessels from arteries to veins. These collection of abnormal small vessels is termed as "nidus". This condition happens in 0.1% of the population has a risk of 2 to 4% per year for intracranial bleeding. Once ruptured, it results in intraparenchymal hemorrhage, intraventricular hemorrhage and SAH. Rupture of cerebral AVM often occurs in young people and children. Cerebral AVM can be diagnosed by computed tomography angiography (CTA) brain, magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) brain, or digital subtraction angiography (DSA). DSA is important to determine whether there is nidal or perinidal aneurysm.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Dural arteriovenous fistulae (DAVF) is the direct connection between dural or cerebral arteries with dural venous sinuses or cortical veins. It accounts for 10 to 15% of intracranial arteriovenous shunts. DAVF lacks a nidus. Signs and symptoms of DAVF are: headache, tinnitus, neurological deficits involving cranial nerves, and increased intracranial pressure. DAVF once ruptured, will produce intraparenchymal hemorrhage or SAH. Increase in number of vessels near dural venous sinuses as seen on CTA is suggestive of DVAF. 4DCT may increase the sensitivity of detecting DAVF. In MRI scans, susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) and arterial spin labelling sequences (labelling protons in blood without the use of contrast media to determine blood flow) are useful in evaluating DAVF. The patterns of draining veins from the fistula determines the risk of DAVF rupture. Increased pressure within the dural venous sinuses causes backpressure into the cortical veins, thus making cortical veins more prone to rupture. The risk of hemorrhage is graded by Cognard and Borden grading systems. These grading systems are based upon the DSA.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Dural venous sinus thrombosis (DVST) and cortical venous thrombosis (CVT) commonly presents with headache, increased intracranial pressure, or seizures. DVST is more common than CVT. DVST are frequently caused by infections in the skull base, dehydration, thrombophilia, meningioma, and other dural tumours. On CT scans, brain parenchymal hemorrhage that does not confined to specific arterial territory along with hyperdense appearance on dural venous sinuses raises the suspicion of DVST. Further evaluation with CT venography, MR venography, and post gadolinium MRI provides accurate diagnosis of venous thrombosis and follow-up after treatment. These studies demonstrate thrombus as filling defect or lack of signal.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: Those with vasculitis may be presented with headache, behavioural changes, neurological deficits, or intracranial bleeding. Sulcal SAH is the most common form of intracranial bleed caused by vasculitis. On CT scans, sulcal SAH is seen as hyperdensity within the cerebral sulcus, while on MRI, it is seen as hyperintensity on FLAIR sequence, and hypointensity on GRE/SWI sequence. DSA is important in making the diagnosis of vasculitis or vasculopathy.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: It is arterial outpouchings arise from distal cerebral arteries. These are pseudoaneurysm, caused by thrombus clogging the distal arteries, which results in inflammation and small tears at the site of occlusion. These inflammation and thrombis can caused by infective endocarditis, artificial heart valve or other heart problems. Similar to vasculitis, rupture of mycotic aneurysm also causes SAH in cerebral sulci, mostly located in the vertex. If mycotic aneurysm is located more proximally, it will produce diffuse SAH pattern. CTA or MRA would produce focal outpouching or increase in diameter of the vessel. Meanwhile, GRE/SWI MRI sequence would produce focal hypointensity. Small mycotic aneurysms are difficult to be seen on CT or MRI. Thus, DSA is useful in identifying these lesions.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: For those who is already on blood thinners such as aspirin or clopidogrel for prevention of myocardial infarction or stroke, traumatic intracranial hemorrhage should prompt the use of platelet function assays (PFA-100) to assess the effect of these antiplalelet agents. After that, plateletpheresis can be started to increase the aggregation of platelets, thus stopping the intracranial bleed. In those with impaired kidney functions, desmopressin or cryoprecipitate can be used instead.


title: Intracranial hemorrhage

text: From limited observational data, it may be relatively safe to restart blood thinners after an ICH as it is asscoated with reduced thromboembolic complications with similar risk of recurrent hemorrhage when compared to those did not start blood thinners after an ICH.


title: Fluorescein

text: Fluorescein is an organic compound and dye based on the xanthene tricyclic structural motif, formally belonging to triarylmethine dyes family. It is available as a dark orange/red powder slightly soluble in water and alcohol. It is widely used as a fluorescent tracer for many applications.


title: Fluorescein

text: The color of its aqueous solutions is green by reflection and orange by transmission (its spectral properties are dependent on pH of the solution), as can be noticed in bubble levels, for example, in which fluorescein is added as a colorant to the alcohol filling the tube in order to increase the visibility of the air bubble contained within (thus enhancing the precision of the instrument). More concentrated solutions of fluorescein can even appear red (because under these conditions nearly all incident emission is re-absorbed by the solution).


title: Fluorescein

text: Fluorescein sodium, the sodium salt of fluorescein, is used extensively as a diagnostic tool in the field of ophthalmology and optometry, where topical fluorescein is used in the diagnosis of corneal abrasions, corneal ulcers and herpetic corneal infections. It is also used in rigid gas permeable contact lens fitting to evaluate the tear layer under the lens. It is available as sterile single-use sachets containing lint-free paper applicators soaked in fluorescein sodium solution.


title: Fluorescein

text: Fluorescein is also known as a color additive (D&C Yellow no. 7). The disodium salt form of fluorescein is known as uranine or D&C Yellow no. 8.


title: Fluorescein

text: Oral and intravenous use of fluorescein can cause adverse reactions, including nausea, vomiting, hives, acute hypotension, anaphylaxis and related anaphylactoid reaction, causing cardiac arrest and sudden death due to anaphylactic shock.


title: Fluorescein

text: Intravenous use has the most reported adverse reactions, including sudden death, but this may reflect greater use rather than greater risk. Both oral and topical uses have been reported to cause anaphylaxis, including one case of anaphylaxis with cardiac arrest (resuscitated) following topical use in an eye drop. Reported rates of adverse reactions vary from 1% to 6%. The higher rates may reflect study populations that include a higher percentage of persons with prior adverse reactions. The risk of an adverse reaction is 25 times higher if the person has had a prior adverse reaction. The risk can be reduced with prior (prophylactic) use of antihistamines


title: Fluorescein

text: and prompt emergency management of any ensuing anaphylaxis. A simple prick test may help to identify persons at greatest risk of adverse reaction.


title: Fluorescein

text: The fluorescence of this molecule is very intense; peak excitation occurs at 495 nm and peak emission at 520 nm. Values for the deprotonated form in basic solution.


title: Fluorescein

text: Fluorescein has a p"K" of 6.4, and its ionization equilibrium leads to pH-dependent absorption and emission over the range of 5 to 9. Also, the fluorescence lifetimes of the protonated and deprotonated forms of fluorescein are approximately 3 and 4 ns, which allows for pH determination from nonintensity based measurements. The lifetimes can be recovered using time-correlated single photon counting or phase-modulation fluorimetry. Upon exhaustive irradiation with visible light fluorescein decomposes to release phthalic and formic acids and carbon monoxide, effectively acting as a photoCORM.


title: Fluorescein

text: In oligonucleotide synthesis, several phosphoramidite reagents containing protected fluorescein, e.g. 6-FAM phosphoramidite 2, are used for the preparation of fluorescein-labeled oligonucleotides.


title: Fluorescein

text: The extent to which fluorescein dilaurate is broken down to yield lauric acid can be detected as a measure of pancreatic esterase activity.


title: Fluorescein

text: Approximately 250 tons/y were produced in the year 2000. The method involves the fusion of phthalic anhydride and resorcinol, similar to the route described by Adolf von Baeyer in 1871. In some cases, acids such as zinc chloride and methanesulfonic acid are employed to accelerate the Friedel-Crafts reaction.


title: Fluorescein

text: Fluorescein is a fluorophore commonly used in microscopy, in a type of dye laser as the gain medium, in forensics and serology to detect latent blood stains, and in dye tracing. Fluorescein has an absorption maximum at 494 nm and emission maximum of 512 nm (in water). The major derivatives are fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and, in oligonucleotide synthesis, 6-FAM phosphoramidite.


title: Fluorescein

text: In cellular biology, the isothiocyanate derivative of fluorescein is often used to label and track cells in fluorescence microscopy applications (for example, flow cytometry). Additional biologically active molecules (such as antibodies) may also be attached to fluorescein, allowing biologists to target the fluorophore to specific proteins or structures within cells. This application is common in yeast display.


title: Fluorescein

text: Fluorescein can also be conjugated to nucleoside triphosphates and incorporated into a probe enzymatically for in situ hybridisation. The use of fluorescein amidite, shown below right, allows one to synthesize labeled oligonucleotides for the same purpose. Yet another technique termed molecular beacons makes use of synthetic fluorescein-labeled oligonucleotides. Fluorescein-labelled probes can be imaged using FISH, or targeted by antibodies using immunohistochemistry. The latter is a common alternative to digoxigenin, and the two are used together for labelling two genes in one sample.


title: Fluorescein

text: Intravenous or oral fluorescein is used in fluorescein angiography in research and to diagnose and categorize vascular disorders including retinal disease, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, inflammatory intraocular conditions, and intraocular tumors. It is also being used increasingly during surgery for brain tumors.


title: Fluorescein

text: Diluted fluorescein dye has been used to localise multiple muscular ventricular septal defects during open heart surgery and confirm the presence of any residual defects.


title: Fluorescein

text: Fluorescein is used as a rather conservative flow tracer in hydrological tracer tests to help in understanding of water flow of both surface waters and groundwater. The dye can also be added to rainwater in environmental testing simulations to aid in locating and analyzing any water leaks, and in Australia and New Zealand as a methylated spirit dye.


title: Fluorescein

text: As fluorescein solution changes its color depending on concentration, it has been used as a tracer in evaporation experiments.


title: Fluorescein

text: One of its more recognizable uses was in the Chicago River, where fluorescein was the first substance used to dye the river green on St. Patrick's Day in 1962. In 1966, environmentalists forced a change to a vegetable-based dye to protect local wildlife.


title: Fluorescein

text: Fluorescein dye solutions, typically 15% active, are commonly used as an aid to leak detection during hydrostatic testing of subsea oil and gas pipelines and other subsea infrastructure. Leaks can be detected by divers or ROVs carrying an ultraviolet light.


title: Fluorescein

text: Fluorescein has often been used to track water movement in groundwater to study water flow and observe areas of contamination or obstruction in these systems. The fluorescence that is created by the dye makes problem areas more visible and easily identified. A similar concept can be applied to plants because the dye can make problems in plant vasculature more visible. In plant science, fluorescein, and other fluorescent dyes, have been used to monitor and study plant vasculature, particularly the xylem, which is the main water transportation pathway in plants. This is because fluorescein is xylem-mobile and unable to cross plasma membranes, making it particularly useful in tracking water movement through the xylem. Fluorescein can be introduced to a plant's veins through the roots or a cut stem. The dye is able to be taken up into the plant the same way as water and moves from the roots to the top of the plant due to a transpirational pull. The fluorescein that has been taken up into the plant can be visualized under a fluorescent microscope.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: The 1980 Turkish coup d'état (), headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the previous having been the 1960 coup and the 1971 coup by memorandum.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: During the Cold War era, Turkey saw political violence (1976–1980) between far-left, far-right (Grey Wolves), Islamist militant groups, and the state. The violence saw a sharp downturn for a period after the coup, which was welcomed by some for restoring order by quickly executing 50 people and arresting 500,000 of which hundreds would die in prison.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: For the next three years the Turkish Armed Forces ruled the country through the National Security Council, before democracy was restored with the 1983 Turkish general election. This period saw an intensification of the Turkish nationalism of the state, including banning the Kurdish language. Turkey partially returned to democracy in 1983 and fully in 1989.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: The 1970s in Turkey was characterized by political turmoil and violence. Since 1968–69, a proportional representation system had made it difficult for any one party to achieve a parliamentary majority. The interests of the industrial bourgeoisie, which held the largest holdings of the country, were opposed by other social classes such as smaller industrialists, traders, rural notables, and landlords, whose interests did not always coincide among themselves. Numerous agricultural and industrial reforms sought by parts of the middle upper classes were blocked by others.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: By the end of the 1970s, Turkey was in an unstable situation with unsolved economic and social problems, facing strike actions, and the partial paralysis of parliamentary politics. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey had been unable to elect a president during the six months preceding the coup.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: In 1975 conservative Justice Party () leader Süleyman Demirel was succeeded as Prime Minister by the leader of the social-democratic Republican People's Party (), Bülent Ecevit.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: Demirel formed a coalition with the Nationalist Front (), the National Salvation Party (, an Islamist party led by Necmettin Erbakan), and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party () led by Alparslan Türkeş.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: The MHP used the opportunity to infiltrate state security services, seriously aggravating the low-intensity war between the rival factions. Politicians seemed unable to stem the growing violence in the country.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: The elections of 1977 had no winner. At first, Demirel continued the coalition with the Nationalist Front. But in 1978, Ecevit once again took power with the help of some deputies who had moved from one party to another, until 1979, when Demirel once again became Prime Minister.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: Unprecedented political violence erupted in Turkey in the late 1970s. The overall death toll of the 1970s is estimated at 5,000, with nearly ten assassinations per day. Most were members of left-wing and right-wing political organizations, then engaged in bitter fighting. The ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves, the youth organisation of the MHP, claimed they were supporting the security forces. According to the anti-fascist "Searchlight" magazine, in 1978 there were 3,319 fascist attacks, in which 831 were killed and 3,121 wounded.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: In the central trial against the radical left-wing organization Devrimci Yol (Revolutionary Path) at Ankara Military Court, the defendants listed 5,388 political killings before the military coup. Among the victims were 1,296 right-wingers and 2,109 left-wingers. Other killings couldn't be definitely connected, but were most likely politically inspired. The 1977 Taksim Square massacre, the 1978 Bahçelievler massacre, and the 1978 Maraş massacre stood out. Following the Maraş massacre, martial law was announced in 14 of (then) 67 provinces in December 1978. By the time of the coup, it had been extended to 20 provinces.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: Ecevit was warned about the coming coup in June 1979 by Nuri Gündeş of the National Intelligence Organization , (MİT)). Ecevit told his interior minister, İrfan Özaydınlı, who then passed the news on to Sedat Celasun—one of the five generals who would lead the coup. (The deputy undersecretary of the MİT, Nihat Yıldız, was demoted to the London consulate and replaced by a lieutenant general as a result).


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: On 11 September 1979, General Kenan Evren ordered a hand-written report from full general Haydar Saltık on whether a coup was in order or the government merely needed a stern warning. The report, which recommended preparing for a coup, was delivered in six months. Evren kept the report in his office safe. Evren says the only other person beside Saltık who was aware of the details was Nurettin Ersin. It has been argued that this was a ploy on Evren's part to encompass the political spectrum as Saltık was close to the left, while Ersin took care of the right. Backlash from political organizations after the coup would therefore be prevented.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: On 21 December, the War Academy generals convened to decide the course of action. The pretext for the coup was to put an end to the social conflicts of the 1970s, as well as the parliamentary instability. They resolved to issue the party leaders (Süleyman Demirel and Bülent Ecevit) a memorandum by way of the president, Fahri Korutürk, which was done on 27 December. The leaders received the letter a week later.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: A second report, submitted in March 1980, recommended undertaking the coup without further delay, otherwise apprehensive lower-ranked officers might be tempted to "take the matter into their own hands". Evren made only minor amendments to Saltık's plan, titled "Operation Flag" ().


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: The coup was planned to take place on 11 July 1980, but was postponed after a motion to put Demirel's government to a vote of confidence was rejected on 2 July. At the Supreme Military Council meeting () on 26 August, a second date was proposed: 12 September.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: On 7 September 1980, Evren and the four service commanders decided that they would overthrow the civilian government. On 12 September, the National Security Council (, MGK), headed by Evren declared coup d'état on the national channel. The MGK then extended martial law throughout the country, abolished the Parliament and the government, suspended the Constitution and banned all political parties and trade unions. They invoked the Kemalist tradition of state secularism and in the unity of the nation, which had already justified the precedent coups, and presented themselves as opposed to communism, fascism, separatism and religious sectarianism.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: The nation learned of the coup at 4:30 AM on the state radio address announcing that the parliament had been dismissed and that the country was under the control of the Turkish Armed Forces. According to the Armed Forces broadcast, the coup was needed to save the Turkish Republic from political fragmentation, violence and the economic collapse that was created by political mismanagement. Kenan Evren was appointed head of the National Security Council ().


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: In the days following the coup the NSC suspended parliament, disbanded all political parties and took their leaders in custody. Workers' strikes were made illegal and labor unions were suspended. Local governors, mayors and public servants were replaced by military personnel. Curfews were imposed in the evenings under the declared state of emergency and leaving the country was prohibited. By the end of 1982 over 120,000 people had been imprisoned.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: Istanbul was served by three military mayors between 1980 and 1984. They renamed the leftist shantytowns changing names like "1 Mayıs Mahallesi" (Eng.: "1st of May Neighborhood") to "Mustafa Kemal Mahallesi" (Eng.: "Mustafa Kemal Neighborhood"), as a symbol of the military rule.


title: 1980 Turkish coup d'état

text: One of the coup's most visible effects was on the economy. On the day of the coup, it was on the verge of collapse, with three digit inflation. There was large-scale unemployment, and a chronic foreign trade deficit. The economic changes between 1980 and 1983 were credited to Turgut Özal, who was the main person responsible for the economic policy by the Demirel Destined administration since 24 January 1980. Özal supported the IMF, and to this end he forced the resignation of the director of the Central Bank, İsmail Aydınoğlu, who opposed it.