On Wednesday, June 12, a UN commission published a report on the Gaza situation. The report contained details of the violence spread in Israel and the Palestine Occupied Territory. It accused both the parties involved in the Gaza situation, Israel and Hamas of committing crimes against humanity. Their actions that have resulted in millions of loss of lives amount to war crimes.
This report will be presented before the UN in the 56th session of the Human Rights Council scheduled on June 19, 2024 in Geneva. Additionally, two other documents on the 7 October attack in Israel and attacks in Gaza till the end of 2023 will be produced simultaneously.
.@UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, & Israel says Israeli authorities responsible for #warcrimes & #crimesagainsthumanity in Gaza; Palestinian armed groups responsible for war crimes in Israel https://t.co/pgjqGN1qYw#HRC56 pic.twitter.com/L9gzeqK566
— United Nations Human Rights Council (@UN_HRC) June 12, 2024
Who released the report ?
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry was set up by the Human Rights council in 2021. In its session it adopted a resolution “Ensuring respect for international human rights law and international humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel”. And through this resolution, it established an independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, all alleged violations of international humanitarian law and abuses of international human rights law leading up and since 13 April 202.
The resolution further requested the commission of inquiry to “investigate all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity”. The commission of inquiry is mandated to report to the Human Rights Council and to the General Assembly on an annual basis.
Mass casualty
The unprecedented brutal attack that began on October 7 has caused massive loss to life and property in Israel and Gaza respectively. Citizens of both the territories are living in immense fear and dread till date. For Israelis, the attack was the largest in its modern history when in one single day hundreds of people were killed and abducted, reminding them of their traumatic past.
On the other spectrum, the Palestininas are witnessing the Israeli military’s largest, longest and bloodiest attack since 1948.
“Amid months of losses and despair, retribution and atrocities, the only tangible result has been compounding the immense suffering of both Palestinians and Israelis, with civilians, yet again, bearing the brunt of decisions by those in power,” the Commission said in the report, stressing the impact on women and children.
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Report finds Israel-Hamas guilty
The commission, as published in the report, found the members of Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Gaza, guilty of deliberately killing, injuring, mistreating, taking hostages and committing sexual and gender based violence against Israeli citizens, foreign nationals and Israeli Security Forces.
It also noted that Israeli authorities “failed to protect civilians in southern Israel on almost every front”, including failing to swiftly deploy sufficient security forces to protect civilians and evacuate them from civilian locations on 7 October. The so-called,a procedure to prevent capture of ISF members by enemy forces, “Hannibal Directive” by ISF has killed at least 14 Israeli citizens.
“Israel’s chosen strategy for the use of force” has inevitably resulted in mass casualties along with destruction of infrastructure. These acts are labeled as war crimes, crimes against humanity and violate international humanitarian and human rights law.
ISF’s intentional use of heavy weapons with large destructive capacity in densely populated areas constitutes an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population, particularly affecting women and children,” the Commission said, adding that this was confirmed by the substantial and increasing numbers of casualties, over weeks and months, with “no change in Israeli policies or military strategies”.
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