Hamas hails UN Gaza report's 'condemnation' of Israel

Hamas saluted "condemnation" of Israel in a UN report released Monday on last summer's conflict in the Gaza Strip that found both sides may have committed war crimes.

"Hamas welcomes the report's condemnation of the Zionist occupier for its war crimes during the last war against Gaza," said Fawzi Barhum, a spokesman for the Islamist movement that rules the Palestinian enclave.

In Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, a senior official from the Palestine Liberation Organisation said the report reinforces "our will to go to the International Criminal Court".

The Palestinians have been seeking to open criminal proceedings against Israel at the ICC as part of an increased focus on diplomatic manoeuvring and appeals to international bodies.

The Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict announced on Monday it had gathered "credible allegations" that both sides had committed war crimes during the conflict, which killed more than 2,140 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 people on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.

The report decried the "huge firepower" used in Gaza, with Israel launching more than 6,000 airstrikes and firing 50,000 artillery shells during the 51-day operation.

It also criticised the "indiscriminate" firing of thousands of rockets and mortar rounds at Israel, which it said appeared to be have been intended to "spread terror" among Israeli civilians.
Source: AFP