'Disproportionate'

The UN human rights chief yesterday slammed Israel's deadly reaction to protests along the Gaza border as "wholly disproportionate", backing calls for an international investigation.

Later, the UN Human Rights Council voted to send a team of international war crimes investigators to probe the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

With 29 votes in favour, two opposed and 14 abstentions, the UN's top human rights body voted through a resolution calling on the council to "urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry... to investigate all alleged violations and abuses... in the context of the military assaults on large scale civilian protests that began on 30 March 2018."

Addressing the special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the violence which has claimed more than 100 Gazan lives in six weeks, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein warned that "killing resulting from the unlawful use of force by an occupying power may also constitute wilful killings, a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention".

Violations of the Geneva Conventions adopted in 1949 following World War II are commonly called "war crimes" although Zeid did not explicitly use that word.

He pointed out though that while 60 Palestinians were killed and thousands injured in a single day of protests that coincided with Monday's move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, "on the Israeli side, one soldier was reportedly wounded, slightly, by a stone."

"The stark contrast in casualties on both sides is ... suggestive of a wholly disproportionate response," he told the council.

Zeid said he supported the call for an investigation "that is international, independent and impartial, in the hope the truth regarding these matters will lead to justice."

Israel, US slammed the special session, saying it was "politically motivated and won't improve the situation on the ground by even one iota."

In another development, Kuwait yesterday circulated to members of the UN Security Council a draft resolution calling for the dispatch of an "international protection mission" to shield Palestinian civilians, according to a copy obtained by AFP.

The draft "calls for measures to be taken to guarantee the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilian population" and for "the dispatch of an international protection mission."

No details were offered on what form such a mission might take, or whether they would be made up of UN peacekeepers or observers.

The draft calls on the UN secretary-general to submit a report within 30 days of any adoption of the resolution on his recommendations "on ways and means for ensuring the safety, protection and well-being" of Palestinian civilians.

Kuwait, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, circulated the draft after Israel killed 60 Palestinians during protests on the Gaza border Monday as the US relocated its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The text risks being vetoed by the United States. Earlier this week, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, vigorously defended Israel's "restraint" in responding to the protests.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday hosted for the second time in half a year a summit of the world's main pan-Islamic group seeking to show solidarity with the Palestinians and condemn Israel. Erdogan has accused Israel of "genocide" and being run as an "apartheid state".

However, as in the 2017 meeting, disputes between the OIC's key players -- notably between Sunni kingpin Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran -- may prevent the adoption of any measures going beyond harsh rhetoric.