Gaza residents welcome U.N. war-crimes report

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gazans who lost loved ones during Israel’s winter offensive against Hamas militants said Wednesday they’re taking some solace from a U.N. report that accuses both sides of committing war crimes, but they’re skeptical anyone will be brought to justice.

In Israel, the findings of the U.N. team sparked outrage and deepened a sense that the Jewish state is being treated unfairly by the international community.

Though the U.N. investigation labeled Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli towns as war crimes, the bulk of the findings focused on Israeli actions during the three-week war.

The report echoed findings in a string of human-rights reports released in recent months, but it could carry more weight, both because it was authored by a widely respected former war-crimes prosecutor, Richard Goldstone, and because, at least in theory, it opens the way to charges against Israel before the International Criminal Court.

For technical and political reasons, however, putting Israelis or Palestinians on trial would be difficult under the present system of international justice.

Both Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers rejected the U.N. team’s allegations. Israel’s government rebuffed the report’s call for an independent inquiry and immediately began a diplomatic offensive to block any attempt to bring its soldiers before the Netherlands-based court.

Israel is not a member of the tribunal, so to prosecute Israeli officials, the court would need an order from the U.N. Security Council. The U.S., Israel’s staunchest ally, would likely block such a request.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Wednesday that Goldstone’s mandate from the U.N. Human Rights Council was “one-sided,” adding that “at an initial reading we have concerns about some of the report’s recommendations.”

The self-rule government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas’ main political rival, has sought ICC membership, but the court has not ruled on its request. Normally, membership is open only to states, and Israel argues the Palestinian request is invalid. If the court were to accept the Palestinian membership, it could prosecute Israelis and Hamas members over the Gaza fighting without a Security Council order.

The ICC prosecutors office said Wednesday it was “examining all issues related to its jurisdiction” in the Gaza case, including the validity of the Palestinian membership.

Some 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, were killed in the December-January offensive, which sought to stop rocket fire by Gaza militants on southern Israeli towns. Thirteen Israelis also died, including four civilians.

Goldstone’s 575-page report said Israel used disproportionate firepower and failed to avoid civilian deaths.

The report also criticized Israel for deliberately destroying nonmilitary targets, citing a flour mill, a chicken farm and water pumps. It said Israel’s wider policies toward Gaza over the last two years “might justify” a court finding of crimes against humanity.