A special commission established by the United Nations' Human Rights Council has basically accused Israel of specifically targeting and murdering unarmed and defenseless Palestinian civilians - including children -- during Gaza Strip protests between May and December 2018.
The report by the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry (UNICI) into the 2018 Gaza protests, however, couched its finding more diplomatically. Its thorough report into the Israeli-led killings concluded there are "reasonable grounds" that Israeli security forces "violated international law."
The commission recommended the evidence it collected to be transferred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for judicial action.
Israeli forces murdered 184 Palestinians, including 35 children. The UNICI determined that most of the Gaza protesters who were killed by Israeli forces --154 out of 183 people -- were unarmed.
The panel also recommended UN members consider imposing individual sanctions on those identified as responsible by the commission. These people will include Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the senior leadership of the Israel Defense Forces (IdF)..
UNICI chairman Santiago Canton said at the beginning of the session where the report was presented that his panel had found the vast majority of the Palestinian protesters were unarmed.
He expressed regret the Israeli government did not cooperate in the investigation. He also urged Israel to carry out a substantial investigation of its own.
Some of the 35 Palestinian children murdered were hit by Israeli rifle or machine gun bullets, indicating that Israeli soldiers had deliberately targeted these children. A disabled person in a wheelchair was also shot at, as well as international journalists despite being identified as journalists.
A commission member, Sara Hussein, said there is no justification for firing at children and the disabled.
UNICI said it "recommends that states ([that are} parties to the Geneva Conventions and/or to the Rome Statute carry out their duty to exercise criminal jurisdiction and arrest persons alleged to have committed, or who ordered to have committed, the international crimes described in the present report, and either to try or to extradite them."
Responding to the report, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel called for the Netanyahu government to establish a commission of inquiry to examine the events that took place along Gaza border.
"It is impossible to ignore the death and injury of dozens of civilians, among them, women and children, by claiming self-defense," said ACRI, which petitioned the Israeli High Court against the open-fire orders of IDF.
"After the court refused to examine, as it should have, the army's open-fire orders and use of force on the ground, and in light of the difficult findings of the UN, the government of Israel must establish a commission of inquiry."
