Palestinian minister to hand ‘war crimes’ files to ICC

Michael Ratner, President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights, told IPS that once again, as it was true in the 2008-2009 Israeli assault on Gaza, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry report on last year’ s Gaza war was devastating regarding Israel’s commission of war crimes.

Roberto Valent, the incoming area chief of a United Nations agency involved in the efforts, blamed the delays on the foreign aid that was promised but not given.

In 2010, the previously warm relationship between Israel and Turkey deteriorated and diplomatic relations were ceded after the deaths of nine Turkish citizens who were killed whilst trying to prevent Israeli commandos taking over a ship, the Mavi Marmara, which tried to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Among the specific cases is the mass Israeli crackdown on the Hebron district in 2014, the war on Gaza last summer, and ongoing settlement activities and crimes against Palestinian prisoners, including administrative detention. He says “the real solution is the lifting of the restrictions”. He said close to 90,000 homeowners have received construction materials to get started and that 135 construction projects were approved by Israel. Among other statistics, it cited 15 cases that killed 216 people, including 115 children and 50 women, in which Israelis used precision-guided weapons, yet there is little or no information to explain why residential buildings were considered legitimate military targets.

Nasser Ishtayeh/AP Palestinians show a rocket launcher during a celebration organized by Hamas in the West Bank city of Nablus in 2014.

It lists B’Tselem as among the sources for its data on the 50-day war dubbed “Operation Protective Edge” by Israel.

The report called on Israel to hold its soldiers and officers accountable for the breaches of worldwide law during the conflict in Gaza.

“In response to this attack, the Israel Defence Forces struck the launcher from which the rocket was sacked at Israel earlier”, an army statement said.

Meanwhile, the report’s authors expressed “serious concerns” at the “inherently indiscriminate nature of most of the projectiles directed towards Israel” but claimed they were hindered from a fuller investigation into Hamas’s missile and rocket attacks on Israel during the war by Israel’s refusal to cooperate with the UNHRC investigation. Hamas says it acts in self-defense against their military campaigns.

“The whole essence of national service is service for the State of Israel and its citizens,” Ariel said on Tuesday, the Jerusalem Post reported. “And we urged all parties to do everything they could to protect innocent civilians who were essentially caught in the crossfire of this conflict”, said Josh Earnest.

The July-August war in the besieged Gaza Strip destroyed or partially damaged tens of thousands of homes, leaving 100,000 Gazans homeless.