New tool maps Israel attacks in Gaza war

Amnesty International and Forensic Architecture released July 8 an investigative online tool mapping Israeli attacks in Gaza during the conflict of July and August 2014.

The new tool, called the Gaza Platform, enables the user to explore and analyze data about Israel's 2014 military operation in Gaza. 

The tool's purpose is to help push for accountability for war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law, said Amnesty on its website.

"The preliminary data currently plotted on the platform, which will be updated over the coming months, already highlights a number of patterns in the attacks by Israeli forces that indicate that grave and systemic violations were committed," the statement on the tool read. 

"The Gaza Platform is the most comprehensive record of attacks during the 2014 conflict to date. It allows us to piece together more than 2,500 individual attacks, illustrating the vast scale of destruction caused by Israel's military operations in Gaza during the 50-day war last summer," said Philip Luther, director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Program.

"By revealing patterns rather than just presenting a series of individual attacks, the Gaza Platform has the potential to expose the systematic nature of Israeli violations committed during the conflict. Our aim is for it to become an invaluable resource for human rights investigators pushing for accountability for violations committed during the conflict," he said.