Israeli authorities responsible for war crimes in Gaza, UN inquiry finds
According to the report from the United Nations (UN), Israel have violated laws of war in Gaza.
GENEVA (19 June 2024) – The UN Human Rights Office published an assessment today on six emblematic attacks by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza last year that led to high numbers of civilian fatalities and widespread destruction of civilian objects, raising serious concerns under the laws of war with respect to the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack.
The report details six emblematic attacks involving the suspected use of GBU-31 (2,000 lbs), GBU-32 (1,000 lbs) and GBU-39 (250 lbs) bombs from 9 October to 2 December 2023 on residential buildings, a school, refugee camps and a market. The UN Human Rights Office verified 218 deaths from these six attacks, and said information received indicated the number of fatalities could be much higher.
“The requirement to select means and methods of warfare that avoid or at the very least minimise to every extent civilian harm appears to have been consistently violated in Israel’s bombing campaign,” said High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
The United Nations Human Rights Office stated on Wednesday that Israeli forces have repeatedly breached the laws of war and failed to properly distinguish between civilians and combatants in the Gaza conflict.
Additionally, the head of a United Nations inquiry accused the Israeli military of perpetrating the “extermination” of Palestinians.
In a report examining six Israeli attacks that resulted in numerous casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) asserted that Israeli forces “may have systematically violated the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack.”
Credits: Aljazeera TV.
The Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territories has released a report on war crimes in Gaza. Speaking in Geneva, Navi Pillay, chair of the UN-backed Commission, stated that Israel has “forcibly transferred almost the entire population into a small enclosure that is unsafe and uninhabitable.”
Mrs. Pillay emphasized that “the deliberate use of heavy weapons with large destructive capacity in densely populated areas constitutes an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population.” She also noted that the commission determined that specific forms of sexual and gender-based violence are incorporated into the operating procedures of Israeli security forces.
The ongoing conflict in Gaza has largely overshadowed a concurrent wave of violence in the occupied West Bank, according to Mrs. Pillay of the UN Commission of Inquiry. Since the onset of the Gaza war in October, she highlighted that more Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers there than during any recorded period.
This increase in violence is attributed to Israel’s increasingly militarized operations and a “surge in settler violence,” which is often overlooked by Israeli forces, she asserted.
The report concludes that the series of Israeli strikes, exemplified by the six incidents, indicates that the IDF may have repeatedly violated fundamental principles of the laws of war. In this connection, it notes that unlawful targeting when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, in line with a State or organisational policy, may also implicate the commission of crimes against humanity.
“Israel’s choices of methods and means of conducting hostilities in Gaza since 7 October, including through the extensive use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas, have failed to ensure that they effectively distinguish between civilians and fighters.
“Civilian lives and infrastructure are protected under IHL. This law lays out the very clear obligations of parties to armed conflicts that make protection of civilians a priority.”