US Envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt strongly rejected the UN Human Rights Council's report on the Gaza conflict, calling it a "testament to bias against Israel," on Friday.
Greenblatt also accused Hamas of endangering Palestinian lives by inciting and perpetrating violent demonstrations.
“This COI [Commission Of Inquiry] report is another manifestation of the UNHRC's clear bias against Israel. Which remains the only country that the Council dedicates an entire standing agenda item to targeting. When the HRC [Human Rights Council] speak the truth?” the US envoy wrote on his Twitter account.
In another post, Greenblatt wrote that Hamas behaved with reckless irresponsibility and disregard for human life when it incited “VIOLENT protests, breaches & attacks at the Gaza fence-line.”
He asserted that Hamas is directly responsible for the miserable situation of the people of Gaza.
On Thursday, the UN Human Rights Council published a report accusing the Israeli army of deliberately targeting civilians, including children, after they conducted a study of 325 victims, eyewitnesses and other sources, and collected more than 8,000 documents.
“The committee has a reasonable basis to believe that during the marches on the border fence with the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights law,” the report indicated.
“The violations included committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and should be investigated immediately by Israel.”
The UN committee investigated the deaths of 189 Palestinians from the beginning of the round of violent incidents and disturbances on the fence from the end of March until the end of 2018. The report stated that in what appeared to be a "war crime," Israeli soldiers deliberately fired at journalists, when possible, as Hamas led demonstrators towards the Gaza Strip border.
Palestinians welcomed the report saying that it was about time to put Israel on trial in the International Criminal Court.
Palestinian factions and parties issued a statement calling to put the report into immediate implementation in preparation for the prosecution of occupation leaders on the ongoing crimes against Palestinians people.
They called for the dispatch of an international competent committee to the occupied Palestinian territories to identify violations by the Israeli state, and provide international protection until the end of the occupation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the accusations in the report issued by the United Nations.
“Israel rejects outright the report of the UN Human Rights Council, which sets new records of hypocrisy and lies, out of obsessive hatred of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East,” he reiterated.
Netanyahu added that Hamas fires rockets at Israelis, bombs and carries out “terrorist activities during the violent demonstrations on the fence.”
