UN Report Shows Zionist Regime Guilty of War Crimes
"Israel must break with its lamentable track record in holding wrong doers accountable," the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Gaza Conflict said in a statement, World Bulletin reported.
The statement followed the commission's report released Monday about the 2014 Gaza conflict that witnessed widespread human rights violations.
The report noted that there was a huge increase in firepower during the conflict in 2014, with over 6,000 airstrikes carried out by the Israeli army and about 50,000 tank and artillery shells fired.
"In the 51-day operation, 1,462 Palestinian civilians were killed, a third of them children," the report said.
It highlighted the fact that hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed in their own homes, especially women and children during airstrikes that reduced buildings to piles of dust and rubble within seconds.
"The fact that Israel did not revise its practice of airstrikes, even after their dire effects on civilians became apparent, raises the question of whether this was part of a broader policy which was at least tacitly approved at the highest level of (the Zionist regime) government," the report said.
The commission voiced its concern in the report over Israel’s extensive use of weapons with a wide kill and injury radius, "though not illegal, their use in densely populated areas is highly likely to kill combatants and civilians indiscriminately".
The report also highlighted that hundreds of people were killed and thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged during the Israeli ground offensive into Gaza that began in mid-July 2014.
“There was an explosion about every 10 seconds,” the report quoted a witness in Rafah city as saying.
The commission also expressed concern over Israel’sdecision to close its criminal investigation into the case of killing of four children on the beach in Gaza on July 16, 2014.
Palestinian resistance movement Hamas welcomed the UN commission's report for highlighting grave human rights violations of Israel.
"The clear condemnation in the UN report requires the referral of Israeli government officials to the International Criminal Court, or the ICC, and other international courts that are assigned to try those who commit crimes against our people," Hamas said in a written statement.
