UN report on war crimes arouses backlash from Israel, Palestine

The Islamic Hamas movement on Monday welcomed a recent United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) report accusing Israel of committing war crimes during last summer's war on Gaza.

The UNHRC fact finding mission was appointed in September to investigate violations of international and humanitarian law during the war. Israel has been lobbying against the commission ever since and refused to officially cooperate with it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday slammed findings by the UN report which found evidence of war crimes during last summer's war on Gaza, deeming it "biased."

"The report is biased," Netanyahu said at the start of his Likud faction meeting at the Knesset (parliament).

"Israel did not commit war crimes," said Netanyahu. "Israel defended itself and did so in accordance with international law," he added.

He also lashed out at the UNHRC, saying "it does everything but protect human rights."

Nevertheless, the UN rights report published on Monday accused both Israel and Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, for committing war crimes during the July 2014 Israeli large-scale military offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The much-awaited report by the UNHRC into the 51-day long war on Gaza in July and August 2014 accused Israel of "disproportionate" attacks on the Palestinian enclave that amounted to "a war crime," leading to 1,462 Palestinian civilian casualties, a third of them children.

Sami Abu Zuhri, Gaza Hamas spokesman said in an emailed press statement "Hamas welcomes the UN's condemnation of the Israeli occupation for committing war crimes during its aggression waged on Gaza in July 2014."

"This frank condemnation necessitates the evolution of bringing the leaders of the occupation to the International Criminal Court and all other international courts to sue them for crimes committed against our people," said Abu Zuhri.

During the 50-day Israeli air and ground military offensive on the Gaza Strip in July, around 2,145 Palestinians and 70 Israelis were killed and over 11,000 were injured.

"We affirm the necessity to end this occupation and stop the aggression and unfair Zionist siege still imposed on our people and our lands, mainly on the Gaza Strip," said Abu Zuhri.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Khreisha, Palestinian representative in the UN Human Rights Council said that the UN report "is objective, because it clearly reveals Israel's violations against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."

"The Palestinian (National) Authority officially received a copy of the report," he told Xinhua over the phone from Geneva, adding "it clearly shows that Israel targeted families and demolished their homes whilst they were inside them."

Khreisha said the report discussed militants committing war crimes by firing rockets into Israel and targeting civilians which "can also be considered war crimes, along with executing civilians accused of collaborating with Israel."

The report also accused militant groups in Gaza of possible war crimes, saying rockets fired at Israel caused "immense distress and disruption to the lives of civilians in Israel."

"The UN Gaza Inquiry finds credible allegations of war crimes committed in 2014 by both Israel and Palestinian armed groups," the report said.

Reiterating previous comments during the UN year-long investigation, Israel's Foreign Ministry also said on Monday it is "regrettable" that the report did not "recognize the profound difference between Israel's moral behavior during Operation Protective Edge and the terror organizations it confronted."

"In defending itself against attacks, Israel's military acted according to the highest international standards," the Foreign Ministry added.

Last week, Israel released its own account of the Gaza war, in a move that was widely perceived as an attempt to pre-empt the UNHRC findings. The 277-page report claimed that its offensive on Gaza was "lawful" and accused Hamas of "war crimes and crimes against humanity."

However, the UNHRC report painted a grim picture of the aftermath of the war. "The extent of the devastation and human suffering in Gaza was unprecedented and will impact generations to come," the chair of the commission, Justice Mary McGowan Davis, told a press briefing held in Geneva, adding that, "there is also ongoing fear in Israel among communities who regularly come under threat."

According to the report, Israel attacked Gaza with over 6,000 airstrikes and 50,000 tanks and artillery shells. "Hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed in their own homes, especially women and children," the report said.

Hamas, the Islamist organization which controls Gaza, along with other armed groups, fired 4,881 rockets and 1,753 mortar shells towards Israel, killing six civilians, according to the report. Endit