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UN body approves Gaza inquiry

July 23, 2014

The UN Human Rights Council has launched a probe into Israel's Gaza offensive. The high commissioner for human rights has said that Israel's airstrikes and military actions in the Gaza Strip could amount to war crimes.

https://p.dw.com/p/1Chh7
A Palestinian boy sweeps the ground outside a destroyed mosque, following an overnight Israeli military strike, on July 22, 2014, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP PHOTO SAID KHATIB/AFP/Getty Images
Image: Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images

On Wednesday, the 47-member UN Human Rights Council backed a Palestinian-drafted resolution by 29 votes, with China, Russia, Latin American and African members joining Arab and Muslim countries to support the measure. The US cast the lone "no" vote; Germany was among the 17 abstentions.

According to the resolution, the commission will examine Israel's military operations "with a view to avoiding and ending impunity and ensuring that those responsible are held accountable."

Earlier Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that Israeli and Palestinian children should live without fear of rocket attacks or airstrikes. Since Israel's campaign against Gaza began July 8, more than 680 Palestinians have died, about 75 percent of them civilians. The conflict has also led to the deaths of three civilians in Israel and about 30 soldiers.

"These are just a few examples where there seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes," Pillay told the UN's Human Rights Council on Wednesday. "One hundred and forty-seven children have been killed in Gaza over the past 16 days," Pillay added. "They had a right to life, just like children in any other countries."

'Until further notice'

With the fighting showing no signs of letting up, Air France-KLM announced Wednesday that it would suspend flights to Ben Gurion airport, just outside of Tel Aviv, "until further notice," and Germany's two largest airlines, Lufthansa and Air Berlin, also canceled more departures to Israel. The US Federal Aviation Administration has also announced that it would extend a ban on flights to Tel Aviv by 24 hours. Israeli officials have spoken out against the flight bans.

Late on Tuesday, the European Aviation Safety Agency had announced that it "strongly recommends" that airlines refrain from operating flights to and from Tel Aviv. The agency announced that it would "monitor the situation and advise on any update as the situation develops."

Alitalia and Scandinavian Airlines also canceled flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Poland's LOT has announced that it would suspend departures to Israel through July 28. British Airways, however, announced Wednesday that it had not canceled any of its twice-a-day Tel Aviv flights and had no immediate plans to do so.

mkg/tj (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)