Probe war crimes: UN rights chief

Probe war crimes: UN rights chief Arab News

DISTRAUGHT: Members of a Palestinian family ask for shelter outside the Red Cross office after their house was destroyed and some of the family were killed in an Israeli missile strike in the town of Beit Lahiya. (EPA) GAZA CITY: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called yesterday for an independent war crimes investigation in Gaza as Israel ignored a UN Security Council call for a cease-fire in its war on Palestinians. UN rights chief Navi Pillay told an emergency meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that the harm to Israeli civilians caused by Hamas rockets was unacceptable, but did not excuse any abuses carried out by Israeli forces in response. She was reacting to reports that said Israeli forces shelled a house full of Palestinian civilians, killing 30 people. Pillay went further in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), saying the incident in Gaza City this week "appears to have all the elements of war crimes." Pillay said violations of international humanitarian law may amount to war crimes for which individuals should be held accountable. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert dismissed Thursday's binding Security Council resolution demanding an "immediate and durable" cease-fire as "unworkable." Israel's security Cabinet debated for the second time in three days whether to send in reservists for a push into the Gaza Strip's towns and cities. There was no word on the outcome. Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza and Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets on at least two cities. One Israeli airstrike killed two Hamas fighters and another unidentified man, while another flattened a five-story building in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, including an infant. Israeli aircraft struck more than 30 targets before dawn, and there were constant explosions after first light. By afternoon, 23 Palestinians had been killed, pushing the death toll to 777 in the two-week-old conflict, according to Gaza health officials who say at least half of those killed were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed. The United Nations kept its aid deliveries on hold because of security concerns, but Palestinians who risked going to Gaza relief centers could still receive food and medicine. The World Food Program and UNICEF said they are not moving any supplies into or around Gaza, and the International Red Cross restricted its activity to Gaza City, where a surgical team assisted medics at the main hospital, Shifa. UN officials said they would begin moving aid around Gaza again if they receive credible security guarantees from Israel. The United States said it was worried about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but placed blame for the suffering squarely on the shoulders of Hamas. "It is a humanitarian crisis. It's a war zone. And war zones are very difficult," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel. "We have expressed our deep concerns about the situation with innocent lives being lost," he added. "But, again, this is a problem, unfortunately, that was brought on by Hamas." US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also came in defense of Israel, saying "it's hard" for Israel to shield civilians in the Gaza Strip because the area is so densely populated and Hamas uses people as human shields. A Palestinian man captured by Israeli troops in Gaza said after his release yesterday that he had seen the corpses of many fighters bulldozed into piles covered with sand. "They used a bulldozer to pile up the bodies of the dead. There were bodies of many fighters," said the man, who was released by the Israelis after five days of detention and allowed to return to Gaza. An Israeli Army spokesman said he had no knowledge of such an incident. The Palestinian gave his name as Eyad and said he saw the bodies in Beit Lahiya. Israeli forces arrested hundreds of Palestinians as they advanced into the Gaza Strip last week. Of about 200 held in Beit Lahiya, 75 were set free yesterday. Eyad said they were first held as "human shields" inside military positions established by the army, then moved to a prison in Israel. A senior Hamas official said the group will send a delegation, including representatives from Gaza, to Cairo today to discuss an Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire. The Lebanese Army, meanwhile, said it found 34 rockets in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel. Ten rockets and a rocket launcher were discovered hidden in a concrete room near the village of Kafer Hamman while another 24 outdated rockets were found nearby. The discovery came a day after at least three rockets were fired from south Lebanon on northern Israel, lightly injuring two people. Israel responded with a few artillery shells. No casualties were reported in Lebanon. With input from agencies http://samotalis.blogspot.com/