A United Nations report found Israel's shooting of demonstrators could amount to crimes against humanity. The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on Israeli accountability, but the European vote was divided.
Five UN human rights officers will be sent to Gaza to monitor "ongoing violations" against civilian protesters after hundreds were killed in demonstrations last year.
The UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution on Friday condemning the "apparent intentional use of unlawful lethal and other excessive force by Israel" and called for the perpetrators to face justice.
The body asked for cooperation with an International Criminal Court examination into Israeli violations opened in 2015.
The resolution passed with 23 votes in favor, eight against and 15 abstentions, with European states divided.
Report into deaths divides
More than 189 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more injured in the last 12 months in marches demanding Israel ease the blockade of the enclave and recognize Gazans' right to return to lands they fled during the creation of Israel in 1948.
A report released last month found only two incidences when Israeli troops were within their rights to use live ammunition when confronting protesters. The toll included 35 children, two journalists and medical workers.
It also acknowledged that Gaza's ruling party Hamas encouraged the use of incendiary projectiles.
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.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot/K. Omar
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the report, while Israeli ambassador Aviva Raz Shechter said the report contained "clear evidence of political bias against Israel."
European countries were divided on the resolution with Britain and Italy abstaining, Spain voting in favor and Austria and Hungary against. The US quit the organization last year over a perceived anti-Israel bias.
Demonstrators have turned on Hamas since last week, with multiple rallies against rising prices and dissatisfaction with the ruling party.
Rights groups said security forces cracked down on protesters and UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov condemned their "campaign of arrests and violence."
