Israel, Hamas accused of war crimes in new UN report

[ConnieCounter]

There are some details here which should be shocking to those who support Israel's actions in Gaza.

I am not surprised at the findings against Israel or Hamas, given what we know about both. It backs what a lot of us have been saying here for months.

The findings against Israel appear to be particularly damning (judging from the BBC report below at least) though no doubt they'll be defended by some. Israel's response is predictably to cry that they are victims of discrimination.

Israel, Hamas accused of war crimes in new UN report (bbc.com)

"Israel and Hamas have been accused of committing a litany of war crimes and human rights abuses since 7 October in a new independent report to the UN Human Rights Council.

The damning accusations, compiled by investigators from the UN's Commission of Inquiry, accused both sides of war crimes for mounting attacks against civilian populations and "murder or wilful killings".

The report, which covers the period up to the end of 2023, specifically accused Israel of crimes against humanity for torture, "extermination" and "gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys".

Israel rejected the report's findings and accused the commission of pursuing "a narrow-led political agenda" against it.

Investigators compiled the report, which will be submitted to the UN's human rights council next week, through hours of interviews with victims and witnesses, medical reports and open source information.

The panel, led by former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, said Israel's use of heavy weapons in populated areas constituted a war crime as it was a direct attack on civilian populations which intended to cause "maximum damage, disregarding the principles of distinction, proportionality and adequate precautions".

Israel was also accused of several other war crimes, including starvation, arbitrary detention, and the killing and maiming of “tens of thousands of children”. The report also said Israel had weaponised a "total siege" which limited power, food and water to civilians, which it said amounted to "collective punishment".

Oher crimes against humanity committed by Israel, the authors said, included the "extermination, murder, gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys, forcible transfer of the population, torture, and inhuman and cruel treatment".

Hamas was also accused of a host of abuses during its 7 October attacks, which saw 1,200 people killed and 251 more kidnapped. The report said there was evidence of widespread sexual violence committed against Israeli women and a pattern of mass killings in public shelters.

“Many abductions were carried out with significant physical, mental and sexual violence and degrading and humiliating treatment, including in some cases parading the abductees,” the report said. “Women and women’s bodies were used as victory trophies by male perpetrators.”

Israeli forces were also accused of sexual violence for public stripping of Palestinians, which the investigators said was intended "to humiliate the community at large and accentuate the subordination of an occupied people".
Israel - which refused to co-operate with the investigation - was quick to reject the report, accusing it of “systematic anti-Israeli discrimination".

Meirav Eilon Shahar, its ambassador to the UN in Geneva, accused the commission of seeking to draw a false equivalence between Hamas and the Israeli military in relation to sexual violence.
Hamas has yet to comment on the allegations.

The report itself does not carry any penalties, but it could be used in a potential future prosecution of Israeli and Hamas leaders.

Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri and Ismail Haniyeh are already subject to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant are also subject to similar warrants.

Wednesday's report specifically attacked the rhetoric used by some unnamed Israeli officials, which it said could amount to "incitement" and may constitute "other serious international crimes".

Speaking after the publication of the report, Ms Pilay said it was "imperative" that anyone accused of committing crimes in the conflict "be held accountable".

“The only way to stop the recurring cycles of violence, including aggression and retribution by both sides, is to ensure strict adherence to international law," she added.
^^
More than 37,120 people have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry."

UN reports accuse Israel of ‘extermination,’ crimes against humanity; Hamas of war crimes

https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-reports-on-gaza-accuse-israel-of-crimes-against-humanity-hamas-of-war-crimes/amp/

another source

This video shows the level of depravity of some of the idf soldiers - mimicking people being killed in tents

https://x.com/fx1jonny/status/1800946198099968042?s=61&t=nilGqPeurpC5xVqZAZdZog

It's terrible. Absolutely terrible.

The footage I've seen from Gaza will haunt me to my dying day. Like a packet of mince on the floor with children's body parts mixed in. I want to scrub my brain out and start again. Or find a new planet to call home

Yeah. I see people saying "Hamas knew what would happen" and while yes they obviously should have known, and maybe did know, that Israel would take out their fury on both Hamas and the civilian population but nobody could have foreseen how bad it's been. Could they? I've been shocked many times since thos started. And I've always followed the news in Palestine.

We've seen headless babies, children starved to death, hospitals destroyed, water, food and medicine denied. In the most recent massacre I saw a child with their head split open and a child with their intestines spilling out onto the ground. I couldn't sleep after that.

I mean what the fuck. I never in my life thought I'd see such depravity and wanton disregard for human life. Especially the treatment of children. It's bewildering. What will the next thing be? I dread to think.

I'm genuinely gobsmacked that someone took the time to report my last comment.

@ConnieCounter And @PeasfullPerson post too

A report to the UN.

Which will be considered by the International Court of Justice and a judgment made.

Meanwhile I notice that this is grounds for hating Israel more and not held against Hamas.

Some of you should read up on WWII. It's a source of national pride that the UK slaughtered enough Germans to slow and eventually help halt the Nazi conquests/genocide.

Writing a stiff letter to the Guardian is sometimes not enough when attacked by murderers and terrorists.

Slaughter is not a source of national pride.

Innocent people die in wars. And that is always, always a tragedy. We should always strive to mitigate harm and minimise the deaths of innocent people. The resources available to people today, to enable that, are much greater than those available in the Second World War. We should seek to do better than that, not to emulate it.

I have family members who have served in the armed forces. Some of my late relatives served (and in a few cases died) in a range of capacities in the Second World War. None of them considered the slaughter of civilians to be a source of national pride. Anyone who does, has something seriously wrong with their moral compass.

That he isn't an IDF soldier, his name is Igor Dobrowolski and it is part of an art series mocking the IDF called "The Most Moral Army in the World". I think the OP also got confused about it when he saw it.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8FyxW_Mx0V/

Agreed! I don't think ANYONE would have expected such depravity. Except for the IDF and the Israeli government, of course. I think they wanted to do this for a very long time and were simply waiting for the right excuse.

Actually no idea what I wrote here or why it was deleted.

@PeasfullPerson I think you quoted me when I said yours and Connie's post were deleted but I can't remember what you said

I am very glad both Israel and Hamas have called out here.

Both have behaved appallingly

Both Jewish people and Palestinians have been subject to horrific crimes.

If we look at this as a whole picture rather than taking sides then hopefully both leaders will get ousted and both Jewish people and Palestinians can live in peace.

"Israel's use of heavy weapons in populated areas constituted a war crime as it was a direct attack on a civilian population"

Hamas deliberately targeted civilians on Oct 7. So I assume that would be a war crime too? They deliberately targeted young people at a festival. They threw grenades into shelters where young people were trying to hide. Imagine if it had happened at Glastonbury or the Isle of Wight festival. I have sons aged 17, 20 and 22 and whilst they are "grown up" they are in many ways not grown up at all. Thinking of my boys, who have been to these kinds of festivals, running for their lives from gunmen just makes me weep.

What is happening in Gaza is surely horrible and beyond tragic. And will surely ensure enmity for generations to come.

There's no simplistic "baddies/goodies" here. It's the people, the ordinary people, that don't and didn't deserve any of this.

This was me after seeing a child's body splattered. It looked like pieces of meat on the floor only to realise it was a child's body tramped by a truck. That image will forever stay with me and is eteched in my brain no matter how much i want to forget it. And just when we think it can't get any worse it does. Every image is worse than the last.