Israel\u2019s recent barrage of deadly air strikes on Gaza might be war crimes, the UN rights chief said on Thursday, adding she had seen no evidence the attacked buildings were used for military purposes.
\nAddressing a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet voiced deep concern about the surge in deadly violence between Israelis and Palestinians earlier this month.
\n\u201cAlthough Israel undertook a number of precautions, such as advance warning of attacks in some cases, air strikes in such densely populated areas resulted in a high level of civilian fatalities and injuries, as well as the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure,\u201d the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
\n\u201cIf found to be indiscriminate and disproportionate in their impact on civilians and civilian objects, such attacks may constitute war crimes.\u201d
\nBefore a truce took hold last Friday, Israeli air strikes and artillery fire on Gaza killed 253 Palestinians, including 66 children, and wounded more than 1,900 people in 11 days of violence, the health ministry in Gaza says.
\nRocket and other fire from Gaza claimed 12 lives in Israel, including one child and an Arab-Israeli teenager, medics say. Some 357 people in Israel were wounded.
\nBachelet called on \u201cHamas and all armed groups to refrain from use of indiscriminate rockets and mortars, for which there must be accountability\u201d.
\n\u201cThere is no doubt that Israel has the right to defend its citizens and residents,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever, Palestinians have rights too. The same rights.\u201d
\nThe UN rights chief highlighted the scale of the destruction in Gaza.
\n\u201cAlthough reportedly targeting members of armed groups and their military infrastructure, Israeli attacks resulted in extensive civilian deaths and injuries, as well as large-scale destruction and damage to civilian objects,\u201d she said.
\nShe pointed out that governmental buildings, residential homes, international humanitarian organisations, medical facilities and media offices had been hit.
\n\u201cDespite Israel\u2019s claims that many of these buildings were hosting armed groups or being used for military purposes, we have not seen evidence in this regard,\u201d she said.
\nThe 47-member council was debating a draft resolution to launch a broad, international investigation into violations surrounding the latest Gaza violence, but also of \u201csystematic\u201d abuses in the Palestinian territories and inside Israel.
\n\u201cRegrettably, the self-professed global champions of human rights continue to shield the occupier from global accountability, and literally provide arms and ammunitions for its widely reported war crimes and crimes of apartheid against the Palestinian people,\u201d Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ambassador Khalil Hashmi said, speaking on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
\nMeanwhile, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said: \u201cIsrael, the occupation and apartheid authority, continues its crimes, its policies and laws to consolidate a colonial and apartheid system.\u201d
\n\u2018Israeli must be held accountable\u2019
\nAddressing the UNHRC special session, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi reiterated \u201cthe importance of the Council\u2019s mandate to guard human rights and human dignity and the urgency to act to ensure the realisation of Palestinians\u2019 fundamental rights \u2013 right to life and right to self-determination\u201d, he said on Twitter.
\nHe said the people of Palestine had once again faced a relentless onslaught on their rights and dignity in two weeks of \u201cbrutal Israeli aggression\u201d.
\n\u201cFalse equivalence between the victim and the aggressor, on account of political expediency, is patently incorrect and morally reprehensible,\u201d Qureshi stressed.
\nThe foreign minister said UNHRC \u201cmust hold Israel, the aggressor, accountable through [an] international inquiry\u201d.
\nHe added that Pakistan supported the council\u2019s deliberations and decisions and urged other countries to do the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel\u2019s recent barrage of deadly air strikes on Gaza might be war crimes, the UN rights chief said on Thursday, adding she had seen no evidence the attacked buildings were used for military purposes. Addressing a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet voiced deep concern about the surge in deadly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n