Civilians often pay the price in so-called targeted killings of activists [EPA]
From January to December 2006, the Israeli military killed 655 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, according to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem - a huge rise on last year.
The defining moment was the capture of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, on June 26, after which the number of Palestinian civilians killed increased greatly.
Sarit Michaeli, communications director of B'Tselem, said: "Following the kidnapping of Corporal Shalit, Israel staged several operations inside Gaza where Israeli forces killed 405 Palestinians over six months."
Over the same period, violations against Israeli civilians dropped considerably.
One issue relating to the rise in the number of Palestinians killed has been the increased Israeli military activity against Qassam rockets fired from the Palestinian territories.
"Of the number of Palestinians killed during 2006, over half weren't participating in any hostile activity at all," Michaeli said.
"The number of Palestinian deaths, in total, went up by over three times."
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