UN rights chief criticizes Israel denying war crimes

ANKARA

Israel rejecting a report accusing it of committing “war crimes” by killing Palestinian protesters was a disappointment, said the head of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday.

Speaking at the UN offices in Geneva, Michelle Bachelet decried Israel's "immediate dismissal" of the commission of inquiry report "without addressing any of the very serious issues raised."

“The end of this month will mark one year since the start of demonstrations which – as the Council’s Commission of Inquiry reported – have been met with deadly, disproportionate force by the Israeli security forces, leading to a very high toll of killings and injuries,” she said, referring to the Great March of Return weekly protests by Palestinians in Gaza which started on March 30, 2018.

"All parties concerned should exercise restraint as the date of March 30 approaches," she added.

The protests call for the removal of the blockade on the Gaza Strip by Israel and the return of Palestinian refugees.

Created by the 47-member UN Human Rights Council last May, the commission of inquiry was tasked with investigating all violence linked to demonstrations on the Israel-Gaza border from March 30 to Dec. 31, 2018.

According to the report, 183 Palestinians were killed by Israeli army gunfire -- including 35 children -- since demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone first began.

"Another 6,106 Palestinians were injured by live ammunition," the report said, "while a further 3,098 were hurt by shrapnel, rubber-coated bullets, and/or teargas".

The Great March of Return rallies reached a climax on May 15, the anniversary of the Nakba (Catastrophe) – the day hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcefully removed from their homes to make the establishment of Israel possible in 1948.