Islam Times - UN raps Israel’s use of ‘unlawful force’ against Gazans

Islam Times - The United Nations (UN)’s Human Rights Council has denounced Israel’s use of “unlawful lethal and other excessive force” against unarmed Palestinian protesters in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Gazans started protesting along a fence that separates the Gaza Strip from the Israeli-occupied territories on March 30, 2018 demanding the right to return for those Palestinians driven out of their homeland by Israeli aggression and calling for a halt to Israel’s inhumane blockade of the enclave.

Israeli forces deployed to the area have used force from across the fence against the protesters, killing over 260 Palestinians and injuring thousands since the protests started.

On Friday, the Humans Rights Council adopted a resolution on accountability tabled by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The resolution was adopted with 23 votes in favor, eight against, and 15 abstentions. The delegation of one member state was absent.

The text also called for cooperation by the Israeli regime with a preliminary examination that was launched by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2015 into Israeli human rights violations.

The resolution was based on a UN Independent Commission of Inquiry report that found that Israeli forces had committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law that “may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity” in killing 189 Palestinians and injuring thousands between March 30 and December 31, 2018.

Citing the report’s findings, Palestine’s Ambassador to the UN Office in Geneva Ibrahim Khraishi stressed that “the targeting of civilians is a serious matter that should not be condoned.”

Khraishi said 35 children, two journalists, and an unspecified number of medical workers had been among those killed during the period of inquiry.

“There have not been any injuries inflicted on any Israelis, be they military or civilians,” he said.

The Israeli regime’s ambassador, Aviva Raz Shechter, said the voting had been marked by “bias against Israel.”

New protest held, 10 Palestinians injured
Meanwhile, on Friday, Israeli forces opened fire at the Palestinians gathering again at the protest site.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 10 people had been shot and injured during the protest on Friday. According to the ministry, medical workers in eastern Gaza also suffered from the inhalation of tear gas fired by the Israeli forces.

The protests in Gaza reached their peak on May 14, 2018, the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day, or the Day of Catastrophe, which coincided that year with the United States’ relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.

Gaza has been under Israeli siege since June 2007, causing a decline in living standards. Israel has launched three major wars against the enclave since 2008, killing thousands of Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.