NEW YORK: Israel may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during last summer's intense conflict in Gaza, a United Nations panel reported on Monday.
Israeli Defense Force (IDF) may be guilty of war crimes for indiscriminate attacks on residential buildings in Gaza, as well as on medical facilities and infrastructure, the report said.
The report also blame the Palestinian, evidence collected by the commission "strongly suggests" that "primary purpose" of Palestinian rocket attacks was to "spread terror" among the civilian population, in "violation of international humanitarian law."
Israel carried out 6,000 air strikes in Gaza, many hitting residential buildings, the report said. "The death toll alone speaks volumes," said the report by the U.N.'s independent commission of inquiry.
It said 2,251 Palestinians were killed, including 1,462 Palestinian civilians, of whom 299 were women and 551 children.
Palestinian armed groups fired 4,881 rockets and 1,753 mortars towards Israel, killing six civilians and injuring as many as 1,600 people, including 270 children.
The U.N. found that that at least 142 Palestinian families had three or more members killed in the same incident, amounting to a total of 742 fatalities, reports QNA.
"The extensive use by the Israel Defense Forces of explosive weapons with wide-area effects, and their probable indiscriminate effects in the built-up neighborhoods of Gaza, are highly likely to constitute a violation of the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks," the report said.
"Such use may, depending on the circumstances, qualify as a direct attack against civilians, and may therefore amount to a war crime."
The Peninsula
