The United Nations Headquarters Board of Inquiry on May 5 accused Israel of deliberately targeting its facilities and civilians taking shelter under UN flags during its recent three-week war on the Gaza Strip. “In six of the nine incidents the board concluded that the death, injuries and damage involved were caused by military actions, using munitions launched or dropped from the air or fired from the ground, by the Israel Defense Forces,” according to a 27-page summary of the report. It blamed Israel for the deaths of three young men killed in an Israeli missile strike at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Asma School in Gaza City on 5 January.
The 184-page report was compiled by a team of four led by Ian Martin, a Briton who is a former head of Amnesty International and a former UN special envoy to East Timor and Nepal. The full findings, submitted to the Security Council on May 5, will not be made public. The UN board demanded that Israel retracts earlier claims that Palestinians had been firing at its troops from within UN premises. It recommended that UN should pursue Israel for reparations and reimbursement for all expenses incurred, including the death or injury of UN personnel or third parties, and the repair of UN property. The UN board also recommended further investigation into possible war crimes. The UN Human Rights Council is expected to dispatch a fact-finding mission to Gaza, though Israel has already announced it would not cooperate. International human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have accused Israel’s military of serious violations of international law and possible war crimes in Gaza.