UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has slammed Israel for its treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. He said its response to recent protests was “wholly disproportionate”.
Israel has been keeping 1.9 million Palestinians “caged in a toxic slum from birth to death” in the Gaza Strip, the rights chief told a special session of the Human Rights Council on Friday, DW reported.
His remarks come as the council began considering a draft resolution on sending an international war crimes probe to Gaza to investigate deadly shootings of protesters by Israeli forces. Zeid said Israel has been “systematically depriving” Palestinians of their rights …End the occupation and the violence and insecurity will largely disappear.”
He further said that there is “little evidence” that Israel tried to keep casualties to a minimum during protests earlier this week. The protesters’ “actions alone do not appear to constitute the imminent threat to life or deadly injury which could justify the use of lethal force.”
“Killing resulting from the unlawful use of force by an occupying power may also constitute willful killings, a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention,” he added.
Possible Violations
The Human Rights Council is discussing a draft resolution presented by Pakistan and backed by 47 UN member states for investigators to be sent to Gaza to look into “all violations of international humanitarian law ... in the context of the military assaults on large-scale civilian protests that began on March 30, 2018.”
Palestinians have been protesting at the Gaza border for some five weeks, calling for Palestinian refugees displaced during the creation of Israel in 1948 to be allowed to return to their homes.
Israeli forces have killed well over 100 Palestinians during the protests, including some 60 on Monday during demonstrations coinciding with the move of the US embassy to Beit-ul-Moqaddas.
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