UN votes to send international war crimes probe to Gaza

The UN Human Rights Council voted Friday to send a team of international war crimes investigators to investiage the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein attends a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the human rights situation in Gaza, after Israeli forces killed 60 Palestinians, on May 18, 2018.

With 29 votes in favour, two opposed and 14 abstentions, the UN’s top human rights body voted through a resolution calling on the council to “urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry… to investigate all alleged violations and abuses… in the context of the military assaults on large scale civilian protests that began on 30 March 2018”.

The special session of the Human Rights Council was convened after the bloodiest day for Palestinians in years last Monday, when 60 were killed by Israeli gunfire during demonstrations that Israel said included attempts to breach its frontier fence.

Top human rights official, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, spoke in Geneva on Friday saying, “There is little evidence of any attempt to minimise casualties on Monday.”

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