Israel likely committed war crimes in Gaza: UN
GENEVA: A UN probe released on Thursday said Israel may have committed crimes against humanity in responding to last year’s unrest in Gaza, as snipers “intentionally” shot civilians including children, journalists and the disabled.
Israel rejected the report “outright,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Hamas, which controls Gaza, called for Israel to be held accountable.
The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory investigated possible violations during demonstrations in the Gaza strip between March 30 and December 31 last year. Commission chairman Santiago Canton said Israeli soldiers committed multiple breaches of international humanitarian law while suppressing protesters who were calling for Palestinian refugees to be allowed to return to their former homes now inside Israel.
“Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity,” he said in a statement. Commission member Sara Hossain told reporters in Geneva that Israeli snipers “intentionally shot children.”
“They have intentionally shot people with disabilities. They have intentionally shot journalists,” she added. Health workers were also hit by snipers who shot more than 6,000 “unarmed demonstrators” during weeks of protest, according to the inquiry set up in May by the UN Human Rights Council. Netanyahu said the rights council, a frequent target of criticism by the Jewish State, had hit “new records of hypocrisy and lies, out of obsessive hatred of Israel.” Among the most contentious questions surrounding the protests was whether the demonstrators presented a threat to Israeli troops. Investigators pointed to evidence that Israeli troops targeted Palestinians “who were neither directly participating in hostilities, nor posing an imminent threat.” The commission dismissed claims the protests aimed to conceal acts of terrorism.