Press releases
UN report on Gaza conflict an 'important step' for justice
‘This report marks an important step towards accountability for all the victims and their families’ - Philip Luther
Victims of war crimes committed by both sides in the 2014 armed conflict in Gaza could be a step closer to justice, Amnesty International said after today’s publication of the findings of the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry’s report into last year’s 50-day conflict.
The Commission of Inquiry’s report - mandated by the Human Rights Council last July to investigate the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip and Israeli actions in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, as well as the activities of Palestinian armed groups in Gaza including their attacks on Israel - covers serious violations, including possible war crimes, by both Israel and Palestinian armed groups.
Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have repeatedly claimed that the Commission is biased against Israel, and have launched their own report into last year’s conflict, asserting that Israeli forces acted in accordance with international law. Israeli officials have also prevented the Commission’s investigators, as well as those of international human rights organisations including Amnesty, from accessing the Gaza Strip.
By contrast, Amnesty has repeatedly called on Israel and the Palestinian authorities to co-operate with the Commission and any follow-up mechanism that the Human Rights Council establishes.
Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Director Philip Luther said:
“This report marks an important step towards accountability for all the victims and their families.“It’s a welcome independent validation of Amnesty International’s own extensive research into last year’s Gaza/Israel conflict, which found that both sides carried out a litany of appalling violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.“The evidence is overwhelming and now the members and observer states of the UN Human Rights Council must give the Commission’s findings and recommendations serious consideration, refrain from politicising the Commission or its report, and ensure that the Council takes all appropriate measures necessary to ensure accountability.“Additionally, the Israeli and Palestinian authorities must co-operate with the International Criminal Court examination, opened in January, and all states must actively support the work of the ICC in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, as the Commission recommended.”
A growing body of evidence
In a series of reports issued since the 2014 conflict, Amnesty has documented war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law by both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups, including unlawful killings of civilians and destruction of civilian property, as well as other serious violations and abuses of human rights.
Amnesty has published reports documenting Israel’s attacks on inhabited homes, landmark buildings, and hospitals and medical workers in Gaza during the conflict, with each report including testimonies and analysis pointing to war crimes. Meanwhile, Palestinian armed groups operating in the Gaza Strip fired thousands of indiscriminate rockets and mortars into Israel; firing munitions which cannot be aimed accurately into civilian areas is a war crime, and statements by Hamas and Palestinian armed groups also indicate that some attacks were intended to kill or injure civilians.
Amnesty has also recently documented and condemned the extrajudicial executions of at least 23 alleged “collaborators” in Gaza by Hamas forces during the conflict, and the arbitrary arrest and torture of dozens of others.