Israeli security forces may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in killing 189 Palestinians and wounding more than 6,100 at weekly protests in Gaza last year, United Nations investigators said on Thursday.
GENEVA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli security forces may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in killing 189 Palestinians and wounding more than 6,100 at weekly protests in Gaza last year, United Nations investigators said on Thursday.
The independent panel said it had confidential information about those it believes to be responsible for the unlawful killings, including Israeli army snipers and commanders. It called on Israel to prosecute them.
“The Israeli security forces killed and maimed Palestinian demonstrators who did not pose an imminent threat of death or serious injury to others when they were shot, nor were they directly participating in hostilities,” it said, adding that the protests had been “civilian in nature”.
The victims included children, journalists, and a double amputee who was in a wheelchair.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the report and accused the U. N. Human Rights Council, which launched the probe, of hypocrisy and lies fueled by “an obsessive hatred for Israel”.
Israel has said its forces opened fire to protect the border from incursions and attacks by armed militants.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the findings confirmed that “Israel conducts war crimes against our people in Gaza and the West Bank, including in Jerusalem”.
The International Criminal Court should act immediately and investigate the matter, he said in a statement.
Protests at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip began in March last year, with Gazans demanding Israel ease a blockade of the enclave and recognition of their right to return to lands their families fled or were forced from when Israel was founded in 1948.
