Israel has slammed a UN commission that looked into violence during a series of Gaza protests last year as setting "new records of hypocrisy and lies." The body said Israeli soldiers "intentionally" targeted children.
Image: picture-alliance
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Israel has slammed a UN report into alleged human rights violations by its soldiers during the 2018 Gaza strip protests.
Israel "rejects outright the report" written on behalf of the UN Human Rights Council, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "The council sets new records of hypocrisy and lies, out of obsessive hatred of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East."
The report, authored by a team of Argentinian, Bangladeshi and Kenyan representatives, found that Israeli soldiers "committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law."
The UN Commission of Inquiry was headed by Argentinian legal expert Santiago CantonImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Trezzini
'War crimes'
A total of 189 Palestinians were killed and more than 9,000 were injured during separate Israeli crackdowns on border demonstrators between March and December last year, the commission that authored the report said.
The commission said it found only two incidents — one in May and one in October, when Israeli troops were within their rights to use live ammunition.
"More than 6,000 demonstrators were shot by military snipers," the commission wrote, adding that some soldiers "intentionally" shot children, journalists and people with disabilities.
The inquiry found that some of these alleged violations could amount to "war crimes" or "crimes against humanity" and has called on Israel to investigate.
Israel blames Hamas
Netanyahu blamed Hamas, a militant Islamist group that governs in Gaza, for sparking violence along the border fence.
"Hamas is the one which fires rockets at Israeli civilians, throws explosives and carries out terrorist activities during the violent demonstrations on the fence," he said.
Israel's foreign ministry spokesman accused the Human Rights Council of being "a de facto accomplice of Hamas."
Palestine, Hamas respond
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has welcomed the probe’s findings, saying they confirmed that "Israel conducts war crimes against people in Gaza and the West Bank."
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim also praised the report and called on "the international community to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for the war crimes it continues to commit against the Palestinians."
nn/amp (Reuters, dpa, AFP)
How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year
The origin of conflicts in the region could be dated back centuries but this year has seen some key events leading to an escalation in the tension between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza.
Image: Reuters/A. Cohen
Palestinian PM Rami Hamdallah targeted
The convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah of the West Bank-based Fatah group was targeted as he made a rare visit to Gaza on March 13. The Palestinian Authority said it held Hamas responsible, having failed to provide adequate security. Hamas claimed the attack was aimed at hurting efforts to achieve unity and reconciliation.
Image: Reuters/I. Abu Mustafa
Land Day march
Some 30,000 Palestinians took part in the first of the demonstrations on March 30, marking Land Day, named for the 1976 Arab protests against Israeli plans to expropriate land. Some demonstrators ran at the border fence and 16 were killed by Israeli troops with others injured, and some dying later.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Hams
Netanyahu: 'We will hurt them'
Speaking on April 9 in the Israeli town of Sderot, near Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We have one clear and simple rule and we seek to express it constantly: If someone tries to attack you — rise up and attack him. We will not allow, here on the Gaza border, them to hurt us. We will hurt them."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Tibbon
Protesters injured
Palestinians ran to help a young man injured during the border protest on April 13. Stones had been thrown at border guards and the Israeli troops fired on the demonstrators. Some 45 Palestinians died and hundreds were injured between March 30 and April 27.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Hams
Boy killed on April 20
Protest continued on April 20th, with some Palestinian protesters using kites to transport Molotov cocktails and firebombs over the fence. Israeli snipers killed at least four more Palestinians on April 20th, including a 15-year-old boy. The UN Middle East envoy dubbed the killing "outrageous."
Image: Getty Images/S. Khatib
May 15: US Embassy officially moved to Jerusalem from Tel-Aviv
US President Donald Trump's daugher Ivanka is part of the delegation that opened the new US Embassy in Jerusalem. The transfer of the embassy triggered a fresh wave of protests in which 62 people were killed. The deaths have considerably heightened tensions in the area.
Image: Reuters/R. Zvulun
US no longer seen as partner in Middle East negotiations
As the US celebrated its embassy move from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, Palestinian protests escalated. The events coincided with the 70th anniversary of the foundation of modern-day Israel, and Nakba Day, when Palestinians recall those who fled or were expelled as Israel was established.
Image: Reuters/I. Abu Mustafa
More than 60 people were killed in protests
Palestinians carried away a protester injured on May 15th after demonstrations marking the 70th anniversary of Nakba.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Khatib
Palestinian youths run from tear gas
Hamas official Salah al-Bardaweel said on Palestinian television that all but 12 of the dead were members of Hamas. Mahmoud Abbas the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization is planning to pursue a war crimes complaint against Israel at the International Criminal Court.
Image: Reuters/I. Abu Mustafa
Israeli airstrikes pound Hamas military targets in Gaza
Following an increase in cross-border violence in mid-July, Israel pounded Hamas military targets in Gaza, while Palestinian militants fired more than 170 rockets and mortars into Israel. Two Palestinian boys, aged 15 and 16, were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to Gaza's health ministry. Three Israelis were injured after a rocket landed on a residential home in the Israeli city of Sderot.
Image: picture-alliance/newscom/I. Mohamad
Israel temporarily closes its Kerem Shalom cargo crossing with the Gaza Strip
Days later, Israel blocked all fuel and gas transfers through the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Gaza Strip for six days "in light of the continued terrorist attempts of Hamas." Israel's defense ministry said essential food and medicine deliveries would still get through. The crossing had been shuttered to commercial trade a week earlier.
