The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday condemned Israel's "apparent intentional use of unlawful lethal and other excessive force" against civilian protesters in Gaza and called for perpetrators of all violations in the strip to face justice. RNA - The Geneva forum adopted a resolution on accountability, brought by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), by a vote of 23 states in favor, 8 against with 15 abstentions, Daily Sabah reported.
European countries were divided. The United States does not participate, having quit the body last year over perceived anti-Israel bias.
The text was based on a report by a UN inquiry which announced that Israeli security forces may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in killing and wounding Palestinians at weekly demonstrations last year.
A UN fact-finding mission announced that Israeli forces committed rights violations during their crackdown against Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip last year that may amount to “war crimes”, urging the regime’s military to prevent its snipers from using lethal force against the demonstrators.
Tensions erupted in Gaza in late March 2018, which marked the start of a series of protests, dubbed “The Great March of Return”, demanding the right to return for those driven out of their homeland. The clashes reached their peak in mid-May that year, the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe), which coincided with the controversial US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds. More than 270 Palestinians have been killed and more than 27,000 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces since the outbreak of the Great March of Return rallies at Gaza border.
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