UN human rights office says Israel may have violated laws of war in Gaza campaign | The Mighty 790 KFGO

GENEVA (Reuters) – Israeli forces may have repeatedly violated fundamental principles of the laws of war in their military operation in the Gaza Strip and failed to distinguish between civilians and combatants, the United Nations Office for Human Rights said on Wednesday.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a report on six Israeli attacks that caused widespread casualties and destroyed civilian infrastructure that Israeli forces “may have systematically violated the principles of distinction, proportionality and caution in attack.”

“The requirement to select means and methods of warfare in such a way as to avoid or at least minimize harm to the civilian population was apparently consistently violated in Israel’s bombing raids,” said Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

According to local health authorities, more than 37,400 people have been killed by the Israeli air and ground offensive in the Palestinian territories ruled by Hamas.

Israel launched its attack after Hamas fighters crossed the border into southern Israel on October 7. According to Israeli sources, they killed around 1,200 people and took over 250 hostage.

Last week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the killing of civilians during an Israeli operation to free four hostages could be a war crime, but that this could also apply to the detention of prisoners by Palestinian militants in densely populated areas.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Howard Goller)