UN rights body votes to probe war crimes in Gaza

[ahlam1399]

GENEVA: The UN Human Rights Council voted Friday to send a team of international war crimes investigators to probe the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces. With 29 votes in favour, two opposed and 14 abstentions, the UN’s top human rights body voted through a resolution calling on the council to "urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry... to investigate all alleged violations and abuses... in the context of the military assaults on large scale civilian protests that began on 30 March 2018."Earlier, Kuwait, a non-permanent member of the Council, circulated the draft after Israel killed 60 Palestinians during protests on the Gaza border Monday as the US relocated its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The text risks being vetoed by the United States. Earlier this week, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, vigorously defended Israel's "restraint" in responding to the protests. No date has currently been set for the draft to be put to a vote. The text condemns Israel's use of live ammunition against protesters, reaffirms the right to peaceful protest and calls for "independent, impartial and transparent investigations" into the deadly violence.The draft also calls for "the full lifting of the blockade and the restrictions imposed by Israel" on access in and out of Gaza and for unhindered flow of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, slammed the resolution as "shameful" and said it was designed to assist Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas, whom the Jewish state considers a terrorist organisation."This shameful draft resolution is a proposal to support Hamas' war crimes against Israel and the residents of Gaza who are being sent to die for the sake of preserving Hamas' rule," he said in a statement.But the UN human rights chief on Friday slammed Israel's deadly reaction to protests along the Gaza border as "wholly disproportionate", backing calls for an international investigation.Addressing a special session of the UN Human Rights Council, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein warned that "killing resulting from the unlawful use of force by an occupying power may also constitute wilful killings, a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention".Violations of the Geneva Conventions adopted in 1949 following World War II are commonly called "war crimes", although Zeid did not explicitly use that word.He pointed out though that while 60 Palestinians were killed and thousands injured in a single day of protests on Monday, "on the Israeli side, one soldier was reportedly wounded, slightly, by a stone.""The stark contrast in casualties on both sides is ... suggestive of a wholly disproportionate response," he told the council.Many of the Palestinians injured and killed "were completely unarmed, (and) were shot in the back, in the chest, in the head and limbs with live ammunition," he said, saying there was "little evidence of any (Israeli) attempt to minimise casualties.""Although some of the demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails, used slingshots to throw stones, flew burning kites into Israel and attempted to use wire-cutters against the two fences between Gaza and Israel, these actions alone do not appear to constitute the imminent threat to life or deadly injury which could justify the use of lethal force."The special UN session comes after six weeks of mass protests and clashes along the Gaza border with Palestinian refugees demanding the right to return to their homes inside what is now Israel.Israel has justified its actions, arguing it was necessary to stop mass infiltrations from the blockaded Palestinian enclave which is run by the Islamist Hamas movement.Zeid said he supported the call for "an investigation that is international, independent and impartial, in the hope the truth regarding these matters will lead to justice."http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/com/cwEr/~4/0H51-ucx3Sw

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