Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 18 July 2014

Almost 300 passengers and crew have been killed after a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 airliner was shot down by a surface-to-air missile while flying over eastern Ukraine. Flight MH17 was carrying at least 154 Dutch nationals, as well as Australians, Malaysians, Indonesians and Britons. The Ukrainian government accused “terrorists” - a reference to pro-Russian separatist militias operating in the area - of shooting down the plane, a charge Moscow has strenuously denied. But intercepted phone records released by Ukraine purport to capture a conversation between pro-Russian separatists and what appear to be Russian military officers, admitting they shot down a civilian aircraft.  As both Ukraine and Russia continue to blame each other for the attack, world leaders are calling for calm, and for an independent, international investigation into what happened. But there's no doubt the incident could become a major political crisis.  Israel has begun a ground offensive in Gaza, after last ditch efforts to secure a ceasefire deal in Cairo collapsed. So far 11 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, along with one Israeli soldier. In total, more than 200 Palestinians have died since hostilities erupted 10 days ago. Human Rights Watch has said that Israel should end unlawful attacks that do not target military objectives and may be intended as "collective punishment", and also warned that Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel appear to be indiscriminate or targeted at civilian population centers, which are war crimes.