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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, attends a meeting of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 17, 2020. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
Israel’s recent barrage of deadly airstrikes on the Gaza Strip during an 11-day clash with the Hamas terror group might be war crimes, the UN rights chief said Thursday, adding she had seen no evidence the attacked buildings were used for military purposes. She also said Hamas had violated international humanitarian law.
Addressing a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet voiced deep concern about the surge in deadly violence between Israelis and Palestinians earlier this month.
GENEVA
The United Nations’ human rights chief said Thursday that Israeli forces may have committed war crimes in their 11-day war with the militant group Hamas, and called on Israel to allow an independent probe of military actions in the latest eruption of Mideast violence.
Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, also said Hamas’ indiscriminate rocket fire during the conflict was also a clear violation of the rules of war.
Bachelet’s remarks came as the U.N.’s Human Rights Council opened a one-day special session to discuss the “the grave human rights situation” in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, all primarily Palestinian enclaves.
The Human Rights Council this afternoon adopted a resolution on ensuring respect for international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet said that rockets are indiscriminate between military and civilians and that their use "constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law." Israel s