Human Rights Watch has said Israeli soldiers shot dead 11 Palestinian civilians who were waving white flags during the Gaza conflict.
Read the HRW report on civilian killings
Read the HRW report on Palestinian rocket attacks
It has called on the Israeli government to investigate the incidents during the 22-day conflict.
The group said other governments should press for prosecutions under international law over incidents in the conflict, if Israel and Gaza's authorities failed to act themselves.
Human Rights Watch said it had statements and other evidence indicating 11 unarmed people, including five women and four children, were shot dead while in groups waving white flags.
'These casualties comprise a small fraction of the Palestinian civilians wounded and killed,' it said.
'But they stand out because, in each case, the victims were standing, walking or in slowly-moving vehicles with other unarmed civilians, and were trying to convey their non-combatant status by waving a white flag.
'All available evidence indicates that Israeli forces were in control of the areas in question, no fighting was taking place there at the time, and no Palestinian forces were hiding among the civilians or using them as human shields.'
In a report last Thursday, HRW said rocket attacks carried out against Israel by the Hamas and other Palestinian militants amounted to war crimes.
'Hamas forces violated the laws of war both by firing rockets deliberately and indiscriminately at Israeli cities and by launching them from populated areas and endangering Gazan civilians,' HRW programme director Iain Levine said.
'Hamas rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians are unlawful and unjustifiable and amount to war crimes,' he said.
The 31-page report examined attacks by Palestinian armed groups since November 2008 that killed three Israeli civilians and severely wounded dozens of others.
Israel cited persistent rocket fire from Gaza as its reason for launching its 28 December - 18 January offensive that killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.
Israeli military rejects findings
The Israeli military said the latest Human Rights Watch report was 'based upon the testimony of a number of Palestinians whose credibility has not been substantiated'.
The military said its soldiers were obliged to respect individuals presenting a white flag as a symbol of surrender or of non-combatant status.
However, it said that Hamas militants had exploited those with white flags for cover and protection.
'Any person who displays a white flag in this way acts illegally, does not enjoy protection from retaliatory action, and endangers nearby civilian populations,' the military said.
A Gaza observer group says that over 900 of at least 1,400 Palestinians killed in the conflict were civilians.
Israel said just under 300 civilians and some 900 fighters were killed. 13 Israelis, ten soldiers and three civilians, died.
