UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released the
Israeli and Palestinian Authority's responses to the UN-sponsored
Goldstone Report.
The Goldstone Commission's 575-page report accused Israel of committing war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity during its three-week military incursion into the Gaza Strip, which began in December 2008 and ended in January 2009. The report also noted human rights violations by Hamas.
Israel launched the operation to end years of rocket and mortar shell attacks on southern Israel by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Last November, the UN gave Israel and the Palestinian Authority three months to respond to the allegations in the Goldstone Report.
Ban said he hoped "steps will be taken wherever there are credible allegations of violations," but he made no further comment on the 247-page report.
The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) opened 150 investigations, including 47 criminal investigations, and began four criminal proceedings into alleged misconduct in four separate incidents.
In its report, the IDF said it has made "numerous changes to its operational procedures and policies in order to further enhance the protection of civilians from the hazards of battle and the protection of private property during military operations."
The Human Rights Council said Israel's investigations were not "thorough and impartial" and Hamas "appeared to have done nothing at all to investigate the alleged violations."
"We regret that the secretary-general merely passed on the reports he received from Israel and the Palestinian side instead of making the failings of these investigations clear," Human Rights Council program director Iain Levine said.
In its report, the PA report said no "moral equivalency" could be drawn between Hamas and Israeli human rights violations during the incursion, but noted that since Hamas took control of the Strip, "legal institutions are being undermined and this has resulted in a high number of violations of international human rights law, negatively impacting the situation of human rights in Gaza."
Source: CBN News / AP
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