Iran Press/America: UN investigators have accused Israeli soldiers of intentionally firing on civilians and said they may have committed war crimes in their lethal response to Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza.
The independent Commission of Inquiry, set up last year by the UN’s human rights council, said Israeli forces killed 189 people and shot more than 6,100 others with live ammunition near the fence that divides the two territories, Iran Press reported.
The panel said in a statement that it had found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such.
"Thirty-five of those killed were children, three were clearly identifiable paramedics and two were clearly marked journalists," the report said.
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Palestinian teenager martyred at 48th 'Great March of Return' protests
The UN panel made it clear, however, that demonstrator's actions such as throwing stones and Molotov cocktails did not amount to combat or military campaigns, rejecting an Israeli claim of 'terror activities' by so-called Palestinian armed groups.
"The demonstrations were civilian in nature, with clearly stated political aims," it said.
UN investigators also said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli troops had killed and injured Palestinians who were neither directly participating in hostilities, nor posing an imminent threat.
They said: "These serious human rights and humanitarian law violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity."
َAt the last Great March of Return's protests, the Israeli military shot and martyred a 15-year-old Palestinian teenager at a protest along Gaza-Israel border fence on Friday, as thousands of protesters marked the 48th 'Great March of Return' protests.
'The Great March of Return' protests were launched on 30 March 2018 by thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza--who have suffered from a decade-long Israeli siege. The protesters gather at the border to demand their right of return as refugees to their original homelands, now in present-day Israel.
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People of Gaza demonstrate on 48th consecutive Friday, calling for 'Right of Return'
Since Palestinians began holding rallies along the buffer zone in March of last year, more than 250 protesters have been killed and thousands more injured by Israeli army gunfire.
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