Today Palestinian armed groups fired a Qassam rocket from Gaza at Southern Israel. The rocket fire killed a Thai citizen who was at work in the greenhouses of the Nativ Ha'asara Moshav.

B'Tselem severely condemns the rocket fire. The Palestinian organizations responsible for firing the rockets openly declare that they intend to attack, among others, civilians. Attacks aimed at civilians are immoral and illegal, and the intentional killing of civilians is a grave breach under the Fourth Geneva Convention, a war crime.

Furthermore, the rockets and mortar shells are illegal weapons, even when aimed at military objects, as they are greatly imprecise and endanger civilians present both in the area from which they are fired and where they land, thus violating two fundamental principles of the laws of war: distinction and proportionality.

The Palestinian government must do everything it can to stop the rocket fire and the Palestinian organizations must cease their attacks aimed at civilians. In refraining from taking action to stop the firing, and especially given its active participation in these attacks, the Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip gravely breaches international law and commits war crimes. The persons involved in these breaches are guilty of war crimes and bear individual criminal responsibility for their acts.