UN Human Rights Council adopts resolution on issue with 29 in favor, 2 against and 14 abstentions
GENEVA: The UN Human Rights Council on Friday decided to urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations and abuses which may amount to war crimes in occupied Gaza Strip.
The probe will be carried out in the context of Israeli military assaults on large scale civilian Palestinian protests that began on March 30.
The council made the announcement after holding a special session and adopting a resolution on the issue with 29 in favor, two against (the U.S. and Australia) and 14 abstentions.
According to the resolution, the council decided “to urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry…to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, in the context of the military assaults on large scale civilian protests that began on 30 March 2018.”
It called upon Israel to cooperate fully with the commission of inquiry and facilitate its access and requests the cooperation, as appropriate, of other relevant UN bodies.
The council also condemned the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by the Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians, including in the context of peaceful protests, particularly in the Gaza Strip, in violation of international humanitarian law, international human rights law.
On Monday, at least 62 Palestinian demonstrators were martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli armed forces along the Gaza-Israel fence, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Thousands of Palestinians had gathered on the Gaza Strip’s eastern border to take part in protests marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel — which Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, Arabic for “Catastrophe” — and protest the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.–AA