UN Human Rights Body Calls for International Inquiry in Gaza – U.S. and Australia Object

The UN human rights body on Friday called for an international inquiry into the state of human rights in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, calling out Israel for its killings of protesters in the Strip. Jerusalem blasted the decision and the council as being biased against Israel.

The special session of the Human Rights Council was convened after the bloodiest day for Palestinians in years last Monday, when 60 were killed by Israeli gunfire during demonstrations that Israel said included attempts to breach its frontier fence. 

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ripped into the UN organization, saying that "the body that calls itself the human rights council has once again proven that it is a hypocritical and biased organization whose goal is to harm Israel and support terrorism. More than anything, it shows how irrelevant it is. Israel blatantly rejects this anti-Israel decision and will continue to defend its citizens and soldiers as part of our right to self-defense."

The council voted 29-2 with 14 abstentions to back a resolution that also condemned "the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by the Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians." The "independent, international commission of inquiry" mandated by the council will be asked to produce a final report next March.

"Nobody has been made safer by the horrific events of the past week," UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein told the Council. 

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– Your guide to the Gaza protests