A special session of the UN Human Rights Council has ended
with a resolution by Member States to investigate weeks of violence
on the Israeli border with Gaza, which has claimed the lives of
more than 100 people in the enclave and left thousands wounded.
The draft text called for the Council to “investigate all alleged
violations and abuses of international humanitarian law and
international human rights law” in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory and particularly the occupied Gaza Strip, since 30
March; the date when demonstrations along the border with Israel
began, dubbed the Great March of Return.
The resolution was adopted by 29 votes in favour, with two
against and 14 abstentions.
The development follows a request on Tuesday by Palestine and the
Arab Group of States.
A day earlier, 60 demonstrators in Gaza were killed by Israeli
forces, marking the highest one-day death toll in the territory
since the 2014 hostilities. According to UN human rights
chief, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein,
who addressed the council, 87 Palestinians have been killed
during the protests, including 12 children, and more than 12,000
injured; 3,500 of them by live ammunition fire.
“Palestinians have exactly the same human rights as
Israelis do. They have the same rights to live safely in their
homes, in freedom, with adequate and essential services and
opportunities” said the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“And of this essential core of entitlements due to every human
being, they are systematically deprived”, he continued, adding:
“They are, in essence, caged in a toxic slum from birth to death;
deprived of dignity; de-humanised by the Israeli authorities to
such a point it appears officials do not even consider that these
men and women have a right, as well as every reason, to protest.”
Zeid said that some demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails and
used sling-shots to throw stones at Israeli soldiers.
But this did not justify the use of lethal force and may be a
breach of international law, he added.
Israel responded to the special session at the Human Rights
Council saying that convening the meeting was evidence of its
politically-motivated “anti-Israeli obsession”.
Ambassador Aviva Raz Shechter, Permanent Representative of Israel
to the UN, said that the militant group Hamas, which runs the
Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West
Bank, had incited people to violence, by placing “as many
civilians as possible – including women, children and journalists
– in the line of fire".
Under the rules of the Human Rights Council, an extraordinary
session can only be called by the body’s 47 Member States; it
must also have the support of at least one-third of the
membership. Friday marked the 28th time that there has been a
special session of the Council.
