U.N. investigators said on Monday that Israel and
Palestinian militant groups committed grave abuses of international
humanitarian law during the 2014 Gaza conflict that may amount to war crimes.
In a report after a year-long inquiry, they called on Israel
to explain its “targeting decisions” to allow independent assessment of its
attacks on the Gaza Strip, where they said 1,462 civilians were killed and
thousands of homes destroyed.
The independent investigators, led by American Mary McGowan
Davis, also condemned what they found were executions of alleged Palestinian
“collaborators” with Israel by militants in Gaza, saying these killings
appeared to constitute war crimes.
A ceasefire last August ended 50 days of fighting between
Gaza militants and Israel in which health officials said more than 2,100
Palestinians were killed. Israel put the number of its dead at 67 soldiers and
six civilians.
Israeli air strikes and shelling hammered the
densely-populated enclave dominated by the Islamist Hamas movement, causing
widespread destruction of homes and schools. For their part, Gaza militants
fired thousands of rockets and mortar bombs into Israel.
Both sides have denied violating the laws of war in the
conflict.
“The commission was able to gather substantial information
pointing to serious violations of international humanitarian law and
international human rights law by Israel and by Palestinian armed groups. In
some cases, these violations may amount to war crimes,” the United Nations
report said.
“The fact that the (Israeli) political and military
leadership did not change its course of action, despite considerable
information regarding the massive degree of death and destruction in Gaza,
raises questions about potential violations of international humanitarian law
by these officials, which may amount to war crimes.”
The report said the onus was on Israel to provide details of
how it chose its targets in Gaza to “allow an independent assessment of the
legality of the attacks”.
Palestinians joined the International Criminal Court (ICC)
after the war, a move opposed by Israel, and the Hague-based court is examining
possible war crimes in the conflict.
William Schabas, who initially headed the U.N. inquiry, quit
in February over Israeli accusations of bias due to consultancy work he had
done for the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
Schabas was not involved in writing the report although he
took part in the research, U.N. officials and diplomats say.
Israel issued a report earlier this month arguing its 2014
Gaza offensive was lawful, a move aimed at pre-empting the release of findings
of the U.N. investigation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scorned as a
waste of time.
Amnesty International said in late May that Hamas committed
war crimes, including abductions, torture and unlawful killings, against
Palestinian civilians it accused of “collaborating” with Israel during the
conflict.
Hamas has denied any wrongdoing in the Gaza conflict, saying
it acted to protect Palestinians.
The United States, the Israelis’ staunch ally in the U.N.
Human Rights Council, accuses the Geneva forum of a long-standing bias against
Israel. It said the U.N. report had “problematic origins” as its authors lacked
experience of international humanitarian law
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