The United Nations human rights office says war crimes may have been committed by both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups during an Israeli raid on Nuseirat in central Gaza last week.
At least 274 people were killed during the raid on Saturday, according to Palestinian health officials, as Israeli forces rescued four captives held in Gaza for more than eight months.
The rare daylight raid was carried out by heavily armed Israeli special forces with air support.
More than 600 people were injured in the raid, including children and women, according to Palestinian officials. The influx of patients since the raid has overwhelmed hospitals in the enclave, which were already operating with limited supplies of medicine, food and fuel.
Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, said on Tuesday that the office is “profoundly shocked” at the impact of the Israeli assault on civilians.
“The manner in which the raid was conducted in such a densely populated area seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution – as set out under the laws of war – were respected by the Israeli forces,” he said in a statement.
“Our Office is also deeply distressed that Palestinian armed groups continue to hold many hostages, most of them civilians, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law. Furthermore, by holding hostages in such densely populated areas, the armed groups doing so are putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk from the hostilities.”
Israel’s mission to the UN in Geneva said Turk had “finally realised that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields”. ( Al-Jazeera)
