UN says Israeli killings in Gaza may constitute war crimes
Mehr News Agency – A commission of UN Human Rights Council issued its report on Israeli crackdown in Gaza Strip, noting that regime’s forces may have perpetrated “war crimes” or “crimes against humanity” in the campaign against Palestinians.
“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. Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, and must be immediately investigated by Israel,” said the Chair of the Commission, Santiago Canton of Argentina.
Tensions erupted in Gaza in March 30, 2018, which marked the start of a series of protests, dubbed “The Great March of Return,” demanding the right to return for those driven out of their homeland.
The violence left 189 Palestinians dead and more than 6,100 others injured between March 30 and December 31, 2018. According to the report, more than 6,000 unarmed demonstrators were shot by military snipers, week after week at the protest sites by the separation fence.
The Commission found that Israeli Security Forces killed 183 of these protesters with live ammunition. Thirty-five of these fatalities were children, while three were clearly marked paramedics, and two were clearly marked journalists. According to the Commission’s data analysis, the Israeli Security Forces injured 6,106 Palestinians with live ammunition at the protest sites during this period.
“There can be no justification for killing and injuring journalists, medics, and persons who pose no imminent threat of death or serious injury to those around them. Particularly alarming is the targeting of children and persons with disabilities,” said Sara Hossain, a member of the commission. “Many young persons’ lives have been altered forever. 122 people have had a limb amputated since 30 March last year. Twenty of these amputees are children.”
Meanwhile, Israeli regime’s Acting Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz rejected the report saying that it is “hostile, deceitful and biased.”
