GENEVA 

The UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Occupied Palestinian Territory criticized conditions in Gaza on Wednesday, saying civilians are forced to risk their lives to get food, and warned that justice for crimes committed during the conflict is slow.

"The events of the last two weeks with the Geneva Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) are just the most serious exacerbation of the 20-year-old problem," Commissioner Chris Sidoti told a press briefing in Geneva.

"People should not have to make a decision that they will risk their lives in order to obtain food to feed their kids, and this is exactly the choice," he lamented.

He was referring to the Israeli attacks that happened near points of its new aid distribution mechanism, GHF—which was broadly criticized by UN agencies and humanitarian actors—where hundreds of Palestinians were killed and injured.

"We found war crimes and crimes against humanity committed consistently throughout the Gaza Strip," Sidoti said, referring to the latest report of the commission.

In response to Anadolu's question about why accountability remains elusive despite developments against Israel by the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, he said: "International accountability is slow—that's a sad truth, but it is."

Sidoti added: "We will see accountability occurring. We will see further investigations and prosecutions when courts are able to actually have the person before them and commence prosecution."

When asked if the commission would share information on individuals involved with courts—as the commissioner stated, they identified those Israeli soldiers responsible for war crimes—he said he could not share such operational details but confirmed that the commission has received requests from three European countries to obtain such information.

Navi Pillay, chair of the commission, also said that the commission urged the Human Rights Council on Tuesday not to shift its focus amid recent tensions in the Middle East.

"In our report to the council yesterday, that's what we urged—that this council and all members should not be distracted by the regional conflict between Iran and Israel, to ignore the ongoing conflict in Gaza."