WASHINGTON: The United States said that the UN Security Council should not discuss a UN report on alleged war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza last summer.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday night: "We don’t believe that there’s a call or a need for any further Security Council work" on the report.
The UN's independent commission found numerous examples of possible war crimes committed by Israel.
The report said Israeli Defense Forces 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.
Israel carried out 6,000 air strikes in Gaza during the 51-day conflict, many hitting residential buildings, the commission said. It said 2,251 Palestinians were killed, including 1,462 Palestinian civilians, of whom 299 were women and 551 children.
"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 continued attacks on residential buildings even after the "dire impact of these attacks on civilians and civilian objects became apparent," raise concern that the strikes "may have constituted military tactics reflective of a broader policy, approved at least tacitly by decision-makers at the highest levels of the Government of Israel," the report said.
Anticipating these damning accusations, the United States rejected the UN report even before its officials had a chance to read it.
"We’re certainly going to read it, as we read all UN reports, but we challenge the very foundation upon which this report was written," Kirby said at a State Department briefing. "We reject the basis under which this particular commission of inquiry was established because of the very clear bias against Israel in it."
Kirby said however that the US had "concerns" about the way Israel was conducting its massive military operation against Gaza last summer.
"We certainly made known at the time our concerns about the use of force in that particular conflict and urged restraint on both sides," he said.
But because of the alleged "bias" against Israel in the report, Kirby said, "We don’t believe that the resulting report requires any further action, and should not go any further in the Security Council."
For emphasis, he added: "We do not support any further UN work on this report." That would include the General Assembly, which can meet without US agreement.
Washington can block a Security Council meeting unless it loses a procedural vote, which requires nine nations in favor.
The US was able to prevent a Security Council meeting on a similar report accusing Israel of war crimes against Gaza in 2009 when Libya, still ruled by Col. Moamar Gadhafi, requested a meeting.
Jordan is the current Arab member of the Security Council.
Even without a Security Council meeting, the Palestinians can turn to the International Criminal Court. They are expected to bring evidence to the court this week.
The Palestinians will do this even though the UN report also accused armed Palestinian groups in Gaza of committing war crimes by intentionally targeting Israeli populated areas with rockets.
The accusations against the Palestinians are not on a smaller scale. Only six Israeli civilians died.
Palestine formally joined the ICC in April. Soon afterward the court's prosecutor began an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.
The ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, has not commented on the report but is expected to take the UN’s findings into consideration. It could be months or even years before she decides whether to bring indictments.
The UN commission report called on Israel to join the ICC and said both Israel and the Palestinians should cooperate with the prosecutor's preliminary examination and with any subsequent investigation that may be opened.
QNA
