UN: Israel's 2018 crackdown may be 'war crime'

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Israel’s deadly 2018 crackdown on Palestinian marchers "may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity," said a UN investigation commission on Thursday.

“The commission has reasonable grounds to believe that during the Great March of Return, Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, and must be immediately investigated by Israel,” said Santiago Canton, the commission’s chair.

In demonstrations starting in March 2018, the commission found, of 189 Palestinian deaths, live ammunition fired the Israeli Army was responsible for 183, including 35 children, three paramedics, and two clearly marked journalists.

According to the commission’s analysis, Israel also injured 6,106 Palestinians with live ammunition and 3,098 with bullet fragmentation, rubber-coated metal bullets, or hits from tear gas canisters.

“The Israeli security forces killed and maimed Palestinian demonstrators who did not pose an imminent threat of death or serious injury to others when they were shot, nor were they directly participating in hostilities,” said a commission statement.

“There can be no justification for killing and injuring journalists, medics, and persons who pose no imminent threat of death or serious injury to those around them. Particularly alarming is the targeting of children and persons with disabilities,” said Sara Hossain, a commission member.

“Many young persons’ lives have been altered forever. 122 people have had a limb amputated since 30 March last year. Twenty of these amputees are children.”

"The commission found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such," said the statement.

In May 2018, the UN Human Rights Council mandated the commission to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the occupied Palestinian territory, referring to the large-scale Gaza protests last year.

Protesters demand the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in historical Palestine, from which they were driven from in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel’s ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.