GENEVA – The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday adopted a resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
Twenty-eight countries voted in favour, 13 abstained and six opposed the resolution, including the United States and Germany. The adoption prompted several representatives to the Council to cheer and clap.
The resolution, according to Reuters, stressed “the need to ensure accountability for all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in order to end impunity”.
It also expressed “grave concern at reports of serious human rights violations and grave breaches of international humanitarian law, including of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
Palestinian Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi welcomed the vote but complained that some European states had not backed it.
“There have been calls for accountability across the world, but that position changes when we’re talking about Israel,” Khraishi told the Council.
The United States had pledged to vote against the resolution because it did not contain a specific condemnation of Hamas for the Oct. 7 attacks.
It did, however, said that its ally Israel had not done enough to mitigate harm to civilians.
“The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to de-conflict military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties and to ensure humanitarian actors can carry out their essential mission in safety,” said Michele Taylor, US permanent representative to the Council.
“That has not happened and, in just six months, more humanitarians have been killed in this conflict than in any war of the modern era.”
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