New York: A UN-backed independent panel on Thursday said it has
New York: A UN-backed independent panel on Thursday said it has “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israeli soldiers may have committed “violations of international human rights” by shooting at journalists, health workers and children during last year’s protests in Gaza.
In its report, the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry focuses on the protests, known as “Great March of Return” that took place on March 30 last year, said it conducted 325 interviews with victims, witnesses and sources, and gathered more than 8,000 documents.
“An integral part of the investigation was a comprehensive analysis of social media, and of vast amounts of audio-visual material showing incidents, including drone footage,” the report said.
The Commission comprises Santiago Canton of Argentina (Chair), Sara Hossain of Bangladesh and Betty Murungi of Kenya.
“The Commission has reasonable grounds to believe that during the Great March of Return, Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, and must be immediately investigated by Israel,” said Canton.
The Commission investigated every killing at the designated demonstration sites by the Gaza separation fence on official protest days. The investigation covered the period from the start of the protests until December 31,2018. About 189 Palestinians were killed during the demonstrations inside this period.
