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UN to inquire into human rights violations in Gaza

The resolution to start an international inquiry into human rights violations was adopted by a vote of 29 to one - the United States voting against.

23.07.2014 - Update : 23.07.2014
UN to inquire into human rights violations in Gaza

GENEVA

The United Nations Human Rights Council agreed Wednesday to establish an independent commission of inquiry into breaches of human rights and international law against the people of Gaza during Israel's latest military offensive.

"There seems to be a strong possibility that international law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes," Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said at a special session at the UNHRC in Geneva, adding that Israel had not done enough to protect civilians.

However, the Israeli government said, "The decision today by the UNHRC is a travesty and should be rejected by decent people everywhere".  

"Rather than investigate Hamas, which is committing a double war crime by firing rockets at Israeli civilians while hiding behind Palestinian civilians, the UNHRC calls for an investigation of Israel," the statement said.

The killing of civilians in Gaza including 147 children over the past 16 days raises concerns about respect for the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in Israeli attacks, she said.

"Only those responsible for criminal acts could legitimately be punished," Pillay stressed, adding that individuals should not be subject to collective penalties. 

"I hope that the parties will respond positively to the visit of the Secretary-General to the region and his call for an immediate ceasefire," Pillay said, calling on more powerful entities, such as the Security Council, and individual states with serious leverage over the parties to this "dreadful and interminable conflict" to do far more than they had done so far to bring the conflict to an end once and for all." 

Turkey's Permanent Representative, Ambassador Mehmet Ferden Carikci said the Council should have reacted to the crisis much earlier.

"By continuing its massacres and other inhumane acts of collective punishment, Israel was only planting the seeds of hatred in the region. Israel’s unacceptable attacks, with the tacit approval of the self-imposed human rights champions, have had devastating consequences not only for the innocent Palestinian civilians but also for human rights and humanitarian law developed over the last 150 years," Carikci said.

The resolution to start an international inquiry into the human rights violations with the view to avoiding impunity and ensuring accountability was adopted by a vote of 29 to one, with the United States voting against. There were 17 abstentions including some European Union members.

The Palestinian death toll from Israel's devastating military offensive against the Gaza Strip rose to 678 on Wednesday following fresh Israeli attacks on the blockaded enclave, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

"At least 678 people have been killed and 4300 injured in the ongoing Israeli attacks since July 7," Ministry Spokesperson Ashraf al-Qodra told Anadolu Agency.

He said the fatalities included at least 170 children, 79 women and 36 elderly people.

Most of the latest fatalities occurred during fierce Israeli artillery shelling of residential areas in eastern Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip.

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