Amnesty International said yesterday that Israeli forces were using excessive force in battles with Palestinians, and that violations of human rights during five weeks of violence could constitute war crimes.
After returning from a visit to the Middle East, an Amnesty International researcher, Mr Claudio Cordone, urged both sides in the conflict to show restraint, but reserved his harshest criticism for the Israelis.
"It tends to be children and others flinging stones, even Molotov cocktails, and the Israeli forces seem to have a pretty short fuse in their answer," he said, speaking for the human rights group at an Amnesty news briefing.
"They therefore tend to react with combat reflexes as opposed to what would be proper policing methods", he said.
Mr Cordone quoted an Israeli official as telling Amnesty that forces had been on a virtual war footing since the latest flare-up in fighting began in late September.
He quoted the official as saying investigations into deaths at the hands of Israeli forces had been called off.
One of only two cases being looked into was that of the 12year-old Palestinian boy, Rami al-Durra, whose death in his father's arms in September was captured by the world's media and brought home the tragedy of the violence.