Muslim states call on UN to investigate possible crimes in Gaza
May 25, 2021
- UNHCR will hold a special session on the latest conflict on Thursday, at the request of Pakistan.
- Countries submitted a draft resolution to establish an independent commission of inquiry to probe human rights violations.
- Reporting back in June 2022, it would identify those responsible to try and end impunity and ensure legal accountability.
GENEVA: Muslim states are demanding the United Nations probe possible crimes committed during the 11-day fighting between Israel and Hamas and establish command responsibility.
The UN Human Rights Council will hold a special session on the latest conflict on Thursday, at the request of Pakistan, as coordinator of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the state of Palestine.
Those countries submitted a draft resolution late on Tuesday that would establish an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate all human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, since April 13.
It would also examine all underlying root causes of tensions and instability, "including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity," the draft said.
The independent team would collect and analyse evidence of crimes perpetrated, including forensic material, "in order to maximise the possibility of its admissibility in legal proceedings".
Reporting back in June 2022, it would identify those responsible to try and end impunity and ensure legal accountability.
Since being set up in 2006, the UN rights council, a 47-member forum, has held eight previous special sessions that have condemned Israel and set up several probes into alleged war crimes.
The United States rejoined the forum under President Biden after the Trump administration quit accusing it of an anti-Israel bias. The US delegation currently has observer status but no vote.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the Middle East on Tuesday and pledged that Washington would provide new aid to help rebuild Gaza as part of efforts to bolster a ceasefire between its Hamas rulers and Israel.
Before a truce took hold last Friday, Israeli air strikes and artillery fire on Gaza killed 253 Palestinians, including 66 children, and wounded more than 1,900 people in 11 days of conflict from May 10, the health ministry in Gaza says.
Rocket and other fire from Gaza claimed 12 lives in Israel, including one child and an Arab-Israeli teenager, an Israeli soldier, one Indian national and two Thai workers, medics say. Some 357 people in Israel were wounded.
