Strong possibility of war crimes in Gaza: UN
Navi Pillay said that around 650 Palestinians were killed in the conflict
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-07-23 17:46 GMT
Geneva: The UN's top human rights official has told diplomats that Israel's military and Hamas militants appear to have violated international humanitarian law and might have committed war crimes during their two-week war in the Gaza Strip.
UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay, on Wednesday, said that around three-quarters of the 650 Palestinians and 31 Israelis killed in the conflict were civilians, and thousands more have been injured.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN Eviatar Manor listens
to a statement at the United Nations Human Rights
Council at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland,
on Wednesday. (Photo: AP)
Pillay told the 47-nation UN human rights council that the situation in Gaza requires its urgent attention because of "a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes".
Pillay said that every allegation of human rights abuses "must be properly and independently investigated".
Watch Video: Israel action in Gaza 'could be war crimes' says UN's Navi Pillay