UN high commissioner Pillay slams Israel's violations of international law and human rights

Unfortunately, unlike the Security Council the findings of the UN's Human Rights Council aren't binding, not that Israel would take any notice if they were. Nevertheless it all adds to the pressure on Israel and blunts its attempts to rebut with its tired refrain about UN bias and one-sidedness.

GENEVA, Aug 14 (Reuters) - There is significant evidence that Israeli forces violated international law and human rights in their invasion of Gaza between late December and mid-January, the United Nations human rights chief said on Friday.

A report by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay lambasted the "nearly total impunity" for the violations.

The already critical human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) deteriorated further during the war, she said in the report, the first of a series of periodic reports ordered by the U.N. Human Rights Council in January during Israel's "Operation Cast Lead".

The 34-page report is one of two -- together with a forthcoming one by South African jurist Richard Goldstone who has been conducting hearings in Gaza -- that will be presented to the council next month.

"...significant prima facie evidence indicates that serious violations of international humanitarian law as well as gross human rights violations occurred during the military operations of 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, which were compounded by the blockade that the population of Gaza endured in the months prior to Operation Cast Lead and which continues," Pillay said.

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