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Israeli Offensive Against Gaza Condemned in UN Report

by Jarrett Martineau | March 23, 2009 at 06:34 pm

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A United Nations report released on Monday unequivocally condemned Israel for its nearly three week long military offensive against Palestinians living in Gaza.

Citing violations "too numerous to list" the report called out the Israeli military for having intentionally put children at risk and for targeting schools, civilians, and social infrastructure in the region.

Israeli soldiers routinely and intentionally put children in harm's way during their 22-day offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza, according to a United Nations report made public Monday.

The report said a working group had documented and verified reports of violations "too numerous to list."

In direct opposition to Israel's own declarations regarding the military campaign, which killed almost 1,500 Palestinians (over a third of which were women and children), the report villified Israel's response as being only "disproportionate" but also "targeted and indiscriminate".

As a result of this most recent conflict, more than 70,000 Palestinians were left homeless.

The U.N. report called the response by Israel disproportionate.

Of the 1,453 people estimated killed in the conflict, 1,440 were Palestinian, including 431 children and 114 women, the report said.

The 13 Israelis killed included three civilians and six soldiers killed by Hamas, and four soldiers killed by friendly fire, it said.

The report said the Israeli operation resulted in "a dramatic deterioration of the living conditions of the civilian population."

It cited "targeted and indiscriminate" attacks on hospitals and clinics, water and sewage treatment facilities, government buildings, utilities and farming and said the offensive "intensified the already catastrophic humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people."

It said Israeli strikes damaged more than 200 schools and left more than 70,000 people homeless.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has deepened since the offensive, as the Israel operation resulted in the "dramatic deterioration of the living conditions of the civilian population."

This did not deter the Israeli government from rejecting the report for being "unbalanced" and "one-sided".

But the U.N. report was not the only formal criticism of the Israeli offensive.

A separate document released by Physicians for Human Rights stated that, by failing to evacuate injured civilians or allowing Palestinian wounded to receive medical treatment, "the Gaza incursion violated IDF's own code of ethics."

Please see additional NowPublic reporting on this story: U.N. Reports Say Israel Targeted Civilians in Gaza

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Paschen

at 18:55 on March 23rd, 2009

Why Israel does not like the UN and accuses it constantly like all that defy human rights and international law do not like to be told so either. Look at Sudan.

tikun

at 13:36 on March 24th, 2009

Because of its exaggerations and often months later is shown to have been bogus. Just like their accusation that the school was targeted, only to find out it was not. But then that doesn't make it to the front pages. Also equating Israel and Sudan is a bit of a stretch considering Israel is not purposely killing innocent people for sport. In spite of what anyone says.

tikun

at 21:48 on March 24th, 2009

To be fair the person representing the UN is a notorious anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and anti-Jew Falk. This guy has been one-sided since he was in red-diapers.

"UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk charged Tuesday that Israel's military incursion into Gaza "was not legally justified given the circumstances and diplomatic alternatives available, and was potentially a crime against peace."

He made the comment as he presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, claiming that the IDF's 22-day operation in January appeared to be "a war crime of the greatest magnitude."

Falk argued further that Palestinian rocket fire into Israel had been mostly a retaliatory act."