UN: Israel forces guilty of war crimes

The UN called upon Israel to immediately ensure that the rules of engagement of their security forces [AP]

A United Nations report on Monday implicated Israeli saying that her forces committed violations against Palestinian protesters in Gaza in 2018 that may amount to war crimes.

A UN Independent Commission of Inquiry found that Israeli soldiers used live ammunition against unarmed protesters, killing at least 189 Palestinians during protests near the separation fence between Israel and Gaza last year.

Over 6,000 Palestinians were also injured in Israeli live fire in the period between March 30, 2018, and December 31, 2018.

“The Israeli Security Forces committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” said UN Commissioner Kaari Betty Murungi. “Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, and must be immediately investigated by Israel.”

The 252-page report scrutinises the Israel Defence Forces’ directives for snipers’ use of lethal force against Palestinian protesters, who have been regularly demonstrating along the separation fence.

“The Commission found there was no justification for Israel’s security forces killing and injuring persons who pose no imminent threat of death or serious injury to those around them, including journalists, health workers and children,” said Santiago Canton, the chair of the commission.

Canton said the commission, which presented the report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, had reasonable grounds to believe that during the protests, labelled the Great March of Return, Israeli soldiers killed and gravely injured civilians who were neither participating directly in hostilities nor posing an imminent threat to the Israeli Security Forces, or to the civilian population in Israel.

“When examining the Israel Defence Forces’ use of live fire against the Palestinian protesters, the Commission, however, found that application of lethal force was in the majority of cases authorised unlawfully. This inevitably led to arbitrary deprivation of life,” said Canton.

The Commissioner Canton called upon Israel to immediately ensure that the rules of engagement of their security forces are revised to comply with international legal standards, especially in view of the one-year anniversary of the protests.

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