The UN investigation committee released a report on Tuesday discussing the deadly attacks on Gaza in 2014 and finding reliable evidence of violations of international human rights laws, as well as a lack of overall accountability.
According to the report, Gaza has experienced seven weeks of bombings by Israelis since July 8, 2014, as well as Palestinian rocket attacks and ground fighting. The attacks were deliberately directed towards civilians, causing mass casualities. Apart from the destruction of civilian infrastructure, at least 1,462 Palestinian civilians were killed, including 299 women and 551 children, and six civilians were killed in Israel.
Israel's apparent aim was to stop rocket fire from entering Israel from Gaza, which only increased after an Israeli crackdown was performed on Hamas in the West Bank following the kidnap and murder of Israeli teenagers by Hamas members.
Moreover, the report highlighted the clear Israeli military policy to target civilians through airstrikes and the use of artillery and other explosive weapons in highly populated regions.
The UN investigation committee concluded that several Israeli attacks, considered “war crimes”, were the responsibility of the military commanders and senior officials, seeing as how they executed these crimes.
Additionally, the UN investigation committee pointed out that current Israeli domestic tactics fail to comply with international standards of impartiality, independence, promptness and effectiveness. The report emphasized the failure of national accountability in Israel in the form of escaping the penalties associated with the violations of the international human rights law allegedly committed by Israeli forces, including murders in Gaza, as well as torture and ill-treatment in the West Bank.
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) welcomes the report's findings and recommendations presented today by the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).
The CIHRS, however, blames the UN investigation committee’s report for not recognizing the alleged crimes against humanity committed by Israel. Additionally, the organization believes the UN failed to investigate cases of internationally displaced Palestinians in Gaza, now amounting to almost 100,000 people, and violations against Palestinians in the West Bank, particularly East Jerusalem, as a result of the conflict.
