Israel
UN accuses both Israel and Hamas of possible war crimes during Gaza conflict
June 22, 2015 13:01
The United Nations has said both Israel and Hamas terrorists may have committed war crimes during last summer’s Gaza conflict.
An independent commission’s report into the Operation Protective Edge said the devastation in Gaza during the fighting had been “unprecedented”.
The UN Human Rights Council set up the investigation, which Israeli leaders had pre-emptively called “a waste of time” .
At its publication on Monday, commission chair Justice Mary McGowan Davis said: “The extent of the devastation and human suffering in Gaza was unprecedented and will impact generations to come.
“There is also on-going fear in Israel among communities who come under regular threat.”
The report attacks Israel’s air-strikes, questioning whether Israeli political leaders continued the bombing of Gaza while knowing of the impact on Palestinian civilians.
"There appears also to be a pattern whereby the IDF issued warnings to people to leave a neighborhood and then automatically considered anyone remaining to be a fighter. This practice makes attacks on civilians highly likely," the commission said.
There was also an acknowledgement of the “immense distress and disruption to Israeli civilians" caused by Hamas rocket fire.
Palestinian terrorists had fired in an “inherently indiscriminate nature”, targeting civilians and violating international humanitarian law, the commission said.
Hamas’s execution of alleged “collaborators” could also amount to a war crime, according to the UN.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that reading the report would be a "waste of time."
Education Minister Naftali Bennett said the report was “born in sin and will be buried in shame. This report has blood on its hands, allows Jews to be killed, ties the IDF’s hands from protecting us”.
