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Extent of devastation, human suffering in 2014 Gaza conflict unprecedented: report

Xinhua, June 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

The extent of the devastation and human suffering in the 2014 Gaza conflict was unprecedented and will affect generations to come, the head of an independent panel appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Monday.

"The Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict issued its report today and said that it has gathered substantial information pointing to the possible commission of war crimes by both Israel and Palestinian armed groups," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said here at a daily news briefing, quoting Justice Mary McGowan Davis, the chair of the commission.

"The extent of the devastation and human suffering in Gaza was unprecedented and will affect generations to come," the head of the Commision said said, adding that there is also ongoing fear in Israel among communities who come under regular threat.

The fact that Israel did not revise its practice of air-strikes, even after their dire effects on civilians became apparent, raises the question of whether this was part of a broader policy which was at least tacitly approved at the highest level of government, the report said.

The 2014 hostilities saw a huge increase in firepower used in Gaza, with more than 6,000 airstrikes by Israel and approximately 50,000 tank and artillery shells fired. In the 51-day operation, 1, 462 Palestinian civilians were killed, a third of them children. Palestinian armed groups fired 4,881 rockets and 1,753 mortars toward Israel in July and August 2014, killing six civilians and injuring at least 1,600.

The commission expressed concerns about Israel's extensive use of weapons with a wide kill and injury radius, though not illegal, because their use in densely populated areas is highly likely to kill combatants and civilians indiscriminately.

It was also concerned about what appears to be the increasing use of live ammunition for crowd control by the Israeli Security Forces, which raises the likelihood of death or serious injury.

The commission was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in September 2014 to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the context of the military operations conducted last summer. Endite