UN Report On Gaza: Both Sides May Be Guilty Of War Crimes
Posted By admin on June 23, 2015
JERUSALEM (AP) A much-awaited United Nations report into the 2014 Gaza war released Monday found that both Israel and Palestinian militant groups may have committed war crimes during the conflict.
Both Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers quickly rejected the report's findings, which said Palestinian militants targeted civilians in their rocket attacks, while Israeli forces likely used "disproportionate" force in civilian areas of the Gaza Strip both identified by the U.N. committee as potential war crimes.
While Israel long has had a contentious relationship with the United Nations, the stakes now are much higher as Palestinians have joined the International Criminal Court and are pursuing war crimes charges against Israel. Monday's report could play a key role in the case against Israel.
"The extent of the devastation and human suffering in Gaza was unprecedented and will impact generations to come," said Mary McGowan Davis, the chair of the commission. "There is also ongoing fear in Israel among communities who come under regular threat."
The war started July 8, 2014, after the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, as well as the subsequent kidnapping and burning alive of a Palestinian teenager in an apparent revenge attack. Israel responded to the teens' kidnapping by arresting hundreds of Hamas members in raids in the West Bank, prompting militant groups in Gaza to step up their rocket attacks.
More than 2,200 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, were killed during the fighting, according to U.N. and Palestinian officials, while 73 people, including six civilians, died on the Israeli side.
Israel preemptively criticized the report as biased. In particular, Israel took issue with the U.N. Human Rights Council that commissioned the inquiry, saying it is stacked with countries that focus disproportionate attention on Israel while having poor human rights records themselves.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that throughout the conflict Israel acted according to international law and he criticized the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday as a body that does "everything but worry about human rights."
"Israel does not commit war crimes. Israel defends itself against a terrorist organization that calls for its destruction and carries out many war crimes," Netanyahu said. "We will continue to act forcefully and determinedly against those who seek to harm our citizens and we will do this according to international law."
Hamas was similarly defiant, with senior official Ghazi Hamad telling The Associated Press the U.N. report created a false balance "between the victims and the killers." He said Hamas rockets and mortars were aimed at Israeli military sites, not at civilians.
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UN Report On Gaza: Both Sides May Be Guilty Of War Crimes
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