Hamas, PFLP hail UN findings on Israeli abuses

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) welcomed a UN report released Thursday which found that Israel had used “excessive force” against Palestinian demonstrators in the Gaza Strip.

“Hamas calls on the international community to shoulder its responsibility to pressure the [Israeli] occupation to lift the suffocating siege imposed on the Gaza Strip immediately,” it said in a statement in the wake of the UN fact-finding commission’s report.

It added that the Palestinian people must be granted their basic rights, including the right to freedom, independence and self-determination.

Hamas said the Israeli “war criminals” must be held responsible for their crimes committed against “peaceful protesters and the Palestinian people”.

The PFLP said the report was a positive step, adding those responsible for the crimes must be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

In the report, the fact-finding commission said Israel's deadly 2018 crackdown on Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza "may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity".

"The commission has reasonable grounds to believe that during the Great March of Return, Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” the report said.

According to the report, 183 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli army gunfire, including 35 children, since demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone began in March of last year.

“Another 6,106 Palestinians were injured by live ammunition,” it noted, “while a further 3,098 were hurt by shrapnel, rubber-coated bullets and/or teargas”.

Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur