Palestine Calls on UN to Probe Israeli Killings of People in Gaza

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour called on the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution seeking investigations into the increasing deadly attacks against people in the besieged Gaza Strip by Israeli troops, demanding that the world body ensure the protection of Palestinian people.

News ID: 70618

Date: 09 June 2018 - 15:35

TEHRAN (Defapress)- Mansour said during a press conference in New York on Friday that despite being in initial stages, he had managed to draw support for such a resolution from the “majority of members” in the Security Council, World News reported.

“And, we are determined to have a larger support in the General Assembly, when it moves to the General Assembly soon. And we will not relent until protection to be provided in the path of ending occupation,” he added.

“What happened today on the ground of killing more Palestinian civilians, injuring more of them, is a testament to the urgency of needing the protection to be provided. And I said we will not relent in our quest to try to find ways to provide protection for the civilian population, because it is our duty,” Mansour stated.

According to reports, an emergency meeting had been pushed by the Organization of Islamic States and the Arab League. The General Assembly’s President Miroslav Lajcak has announced that the meeting will be held on June 13 to vote on a resolution to condemn Israel. Unlike those passed by the Security Council, the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly are non-binding.

Earlier this month, the US vetoed a Kuwait-drafted resolution asking UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to report on ways to protect Palestinian civilians, including an “international protection mechanism”.

Since the start of the rallies in the Gaza Strip in late March, some 130 Palestinians have been killed and at least 14,000 injured along the fence in Gaza.

The Amnesty International has also stressed that the attacks on Palestinian protesters by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip are “willful killings constituting war crimes", while the UN Human Rights Council has also decided to urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations and abuses which may amount to war crimes in the occupied Gaza Strip.

The violence was condemned by rights groups and most UN Security Council members, with even the US’ closest allies refusing to stand by Washington’s support for Tel Aviv.

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