GENEVA (Reuters) -The United Nations Human Rights Council agreed on Thursday to launch an international investigation into alleged crimes committed during the 11-day conflict between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.<\/p>\n
The independent investigation will have a broad mandate to look into all alleged violations, not just in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, but also in Israel during hostilities that were halted by a ceasefire on May 21.<\/p>\n
Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, earlier told the council that deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza might constitute war crimes and that Hamas had violated international humanitarian law by firing rockets into Israel.<\/p>\n
Israel rejected the resolution adopted by the Geneva forum and said it would not cooperate.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s shameful decision is yet another example of the UN Human Rights Council\u2019s blatant anti-Israel obsession,\u201d Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement accusing the forum of whitewashing \u201ca genocidal terrorist organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s foreign ministry said its forces acted \u201cin accordance with international law, in defending our citizens from Hamas\u2019 indiscriminate rocket fire\u201d.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, called the group\u2019s actions \u201clegitimate resistance\u201d and called for \u201cimmediate steps to punish\u201d Israel.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s main ally, the United States, said it deeply regretted the decision in the forum, where it has observer status and no vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe action today instead threatens to imperil the progress that has been made,\u201d said a statement released by the U.S. mission to the U.N. in Geneva.<\/p> By a vote of 24 states in favour, and nine against, with 14 abstentions, the 47-member council adopted a resolution brought by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations.<\/p>\n European countries were split, with Austria, Britain and Germany voting against. France and the Netherlands abstained.<\/p>\n Bachelet told the council her office had verified the deaths of 270 Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including 68 children, during this month\u2019s violence. Most were killed in Gaza.<\/p>\n Hamas rockets killed 10 Israelis and residents, she said. Israeli authorities put the number of those killed by Palestinian attacks in Israel at 13.<\/p>\n \u201cRegrettably, the self-professed global champions of human rights continue to shield the occupier from global accountability, and literally provide arms and ammunitions for its widely reported war crimes and crimes of apartheid against the Palestinian people,\u201d said Pakistan\u2019s ambassador to the OIC, Khalil Hashmi, who was speaking on behalf of the OIC.<\/p>\n The conflict flared after Hamas demanded Israeli security forces leave the al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem following confrontations there with Palestinians, and later launched rockets towards Israel.<\/p>\n The compound sits atop the Old City plateau known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as Temple Mount. It is the most sensitive site in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<\/p>\n Bachelet said \u201cindiscriminate\u201d strikes from rockets launched by Hamas constituted \u201ca clear violation of international humanitarian law\u201d.<\/p>\n She said Israel\u2019s strikes in Gaza caused widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and fatalities.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite Israel\u2019s claims that many of these buildings were hosting armed groups or being used for military purposes, we have not seen evidence in this regard,\u201d Bachelet said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf found to be indiscriminate and disproportionate, such attacks might constitute war crimes,\u201d she added.<\/p>\nBACHELET ADDRESSES COUNCIL<\/h2>\n