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Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit
Gaza border protests
Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

UN rights chief backs calls for inquiry over Gaza deaths

Top rights chief Hussein calls for inquiry over Gaza deaths, saying there is 'little evidence' for Israel's attempts to prevent mortalities during Gaza border protests; Gazans 'caged in toxic slum from birth to death,' Israel occupying power under international law, obliged to protect them, he adds; Israeli ambassador says 'call for commission of inquiry won't improve situation by one iota.'

The UN's top human rights official Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said Friday there's "little evidence" that Israel made an effort to minimize casualties during protests by Palestinians earlier this week and iterated his support of calls for an international inquiry on the matter.

 

 

Al-Hussein spoke in Geneva before a special session of the UN Human Rights Council, called following a deadly crackdown on protesters in Gaza by Israeli forces. Nearly 60 Palestinians were killed at mass border protests on Monday.

 

 

Top human rights official Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein  (Photo: AFP)
Top human rights official Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein (Photo: AFP)

 

Israel has systematically deprived Palestinians of their human rights, with 1.9 million in Gaza "caged in a toxic slum from birth to death," the UN human rights chief stated.

 

"Nobody has been made safer by the horrific events of the past week," he said. "End the occupation, and the violence and insecurity will largely disappear," he went on to say.

 

Deadly clashes on Gaza border    (צילום: דובר צה''ל)

Deadly clashes on Gaza border

סגורסגור

שליחה לחבר

 הקלידו את הקוד המוצג
תמונה חדשה

שלח
הסרטון נשלח לחברך

סגורסגור

הטמעת הסרטון באתר שלך

 קוד להטמעה:

 

He said Israeli forces had killed 106 Palestinians, including 15 children, since March 30. More than 12,000 were injured, at least 3,500 by live ammunition. Israel was an occupying power under international law, obliged to protect the people of Gaza and ensure their welfare, he said.

 

Al-Hussein also commented on Israel's statements saying Hamas wanted to achieve a PR victory by sending the masses to the border fence.

 

"It's not a PR victory. Nobody won here. It's a tragedy for many families in Gaza," he lamented.

 

The session will consider a resolution put forward by Pakistan and other Muslim countries that includes a call for the council to dispatch an "independent, international commission of inquiry."

 

Some demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails, used sling-shots, flew burning kites into Israel, and attempted to use wire-cutters on border fences, but "these actions alone do not appear to constitute the imminent threat to life or deadly injury which could justify the use of lethal force," Zeid added.

 

He said that "the stark contrast in casualties on both sides is also suggestive of a wholly disproportionate response."

 

Israel and the United States have repeatedly accused the 47-member council of anti-Israel bias.

 

Israeli Ambassador Aviva Raz Shechter (Photo: AFP)
Israeli Ambassador Aviva Raz Shechter (Photo: AFP)
 

 

Israeli Ambassador Aviva Raz Shechter said Friday's session and the call for a commission of inquiry "are yet again politically motivated and won't improve the situation on the ground by even one iota."

 

"The unfortunate outcome of Monday's riots can only be attributed to Hamas' cynical exploitation of its own population in a violent campaign against Israel," she said.

 

"It is regrettable that so many member states allow themselves to be misled by the false narrative of so-called peaceful protests," the Israeli envoy added.

 

The United States has stood by Israel during the past week's violence, which coincided with the opening of a new US embassy in Jerusalem. US chargé d'affaires Theodore Allegra said the Council was ignoring the real culprit of the violence: Hamas.

 

"The one sided action proposed by the Council today only further shows that the Human Rights Council is indeed a broken body," he said.

 

Turkey again blasts Israel at OIC summit 

Turkey joined the attack against Israel, calling on Muslim countries to stop other nations from following the United States and opening embassies in Israel's capital, as it opened a meeting in Istanbul on Friday to address the issue.

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Photo: EPA)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Photo: EPA)
 

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), made up of 57 member countries, after Israeli forces killed dozens of protesters in Gaza this week.

 

"In the final declaration, we will emphasize the status of the Palestine issue for our community, and that we will not allow changing the status of the historic city," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said at an opening address.

 

"We must prevent other countries from following the US example," he stated.

 

Turkey has been one of the most vocal critics of the US move and the violence in Gaza, with the government declaring three days of mourning for those killed. Erdoğan has described the actions of the Israeli forces as a "genocide" and Israel as a "terrorist state".

 

The events in Gaza have also sparked a diplomatic row between Turkey and Israel, with both countries expelling each other's senior diplomats this week.

 

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.18.18, 14:55
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