From the Liveblog of
Thursday, July 31, 2014
UN official condemns Israeli ‘war crimes,’ US support for Iron Dome
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleGENEVA — The UN’s top human rights official accuses both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes in the latest Gaza war, but reserves her harshest words for the Israeli government, which she says is deliberately defying international law.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says that by placing and firing rockets within heavily populated areas, both sides are committing “a violation of international humanitarian law, therefore a war crime.”
“Locating rockets within schools and hospitals, or even launching these rockets from densely populated areas are violations of international humanitarian law,” Pillay says, referring to Hamas, but adds that doesn’t “absolve” Israel from disregarding the same law.
Pillay says Israel’s government has defied international law in Gaza by attacking civilian areas with schools, hospitals, homes and UN facilities.
“None of this appears to me to be accidental,” Pillay says of Israel at a news conference in Geneva to mark the end of her six-year term. “They appear to be defying — deliberate defiance of — obligations that international law imposes on Israel.”
Pillay also took aim at the US, Israel’s main ally, for providing financial support for Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket defense system.
“No such protection has been provided to Gazans against the shelling,” she said.
— AP
The Times of Israel Community.