UN report claiming « substantial information » that both Israel and Palestinians committed war crimes during Gaza conflict rejected by both sides .
Both Israel and Palestinian militants committed grave violations during last year’s Gaza conflict that may amount to war crimes, a widely anticipated United Nations report said on Monday, decrying the « unprecedented » devastation and human suffering.
The Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict announced it had gathered « substantial information » and « credible allegations » that both sides had committed war crimes during the conflict, which killed more than 2,140 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 people on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.
« The extent of the devastation and human suffering in Gaza was unprecedented and will impact generations to come, » the chair of the commission, New York judge Mary McGowan Davis, said in a statement.
The report decried the « huge firepower » used in Gaza, with Israel launching more than 6,000 airstrikes and firing 50,000 artillery shells during the 51-day operation.
A third of the civilians killed were children.
Palestinian armed groups meanwhile fired 4,881 rockets and 1,753 mortars towards Israel, killing six civilians and injuring at least 1,600 others (…)