The United Nations Human Rights agency called on Israel to prevent further loss of life in renewed demonstrations planned along the Gaza-Strip’s border with Israel. While Israel emphasized that it would refrain from targeting protesters, unless they seek to breach Israeli territory or harm the security barriers along the border; spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for human rights emphasized that Israel had obligations under international law to ensure that excessive force was not used against protesters.
In response to the call by the United Nations, an Israeli official told TV7 that the world body’s Human Rights council should have demanded from the Palestinians, including the internationally recognized terror group Hamas, to immediately halt – what he termed as – “a terror parade” along the border with Israel. The official stressed that while the U.N. seeks to condemn Israel for defending itself from terrorists infiltrating into its territory and placing explosive devices for the purposes of harming Israeli troops – as was done on numerous occasions during the protests – the world body should condemn the terrorist organization Hamas for openly calling for Israel’s destruction and its ongoing use of its civilian population as human shields.
Meanwhile, The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court at The Hague expressed profound concern about the escalation on the border of the Gaza Strip. She said that violence against civilians—in a situation such as the one prevailing in Gaza—could constitute crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as could the use of civilian presence (by Islamist militants) for the purpose of shielding military activities.