Israel's offensive in Gaza killed 252 children

London, Sep. 9 (ANI): A startling new report has revealed that 252 children were killed during Israel's war on Gaza early this year.

The Israeli official figures seriously underestimated the civilian Palestinian death toll, and said that just 59 children under 16 died during their offensive in Gaza.

Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem gathered death certificates, photos, and testimonies relating to all 252 of the children, The Independent reports.

B'Tselem, which said it had carried out "months of meticulous investigation and cross-checks with numerous sources" has, unlike the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), made public the names of all those it said were killed in the war.

The organization noted that since the IDF had refused to reveal its own detailed list, it was impossible to compare the names but that "the blatant discrepancy between the numbers is intolerable."

The new figures came as the IDF opened a criminal investigation into allegations by Khaled Abed Rabbo that three of his daughters were shot, two fatally, as the family, carrying a white flag, walked from their house in eastern Jabalya on January 7.

B'Tselem's total Palestinian death toll exceeds by more than 200 the 1,166 cited by the IDF.

The IDF insisted when issuing its own figures that 709 were "Hamas terror operatives" and that a total of 295 "not involved" Palestinians were killed.

By contrast B'Tselem puts the total figure for those who "did not take part in the hostilities" at 773.

The agency repeated calls for an "independent and credible investigation" into the military's conduct of the war. (ANI)