Israel's Gaza shelling may be war crime - Tutu: "GENEVA, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Israel's deadly shelling in the Gaza Strip in November 2006 may constitute a war crime, South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in a report to the United Nations released on Monday.
Tutu, who serves as an independent U.N. human rights envoy, said Israel must be held accountable for its strike that hit two homes in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, killing 18 people.
'In the absence of a well-founded explanation from the Israeli military -- who is in sole possession of the relevant facts -- the mission must conclude that there is a possibility that the shelling of Beit Hanoun constituted a war crime,' he said in the report to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
The South African cleric said his mission had also made clear to leaders of the Palestinian faction Hamas that 'the firing of rockets on the civilian population in Israel must stop'.
The Israeli military has said it decided to fire artillery against launching sites in the Beit Hanoun area on Nov. 8, 2006 on the basis of intelligence information that militants were planning rocket attacks on Israel. An Israeli military committee that investigated the shelling decided in February that 'the injury of the Palestinian civilians was not intentional and was directly due to a rare and severe failure in the artillery fire control system.'
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Tutu, who serves as an independent U.N. human rights envoy, said Israel must be held accountable for its strike that hit two homes in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, killing 18 people.
'In the absence of a well-founded explanation from the Israeli military -- who is in sole possession of the relevant facts -- the mission must conclude that there is a possibility that the shelling of Beit Hanoun constituted a war crime,' he said in the report to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
The South African cleric said his mission had also made clear to leaders of the Palestinian faction Hamas that 'the firing of rockets on the civilian population in Israel must stop'.
The Israeli military has said it decided to fire artillery against launching sites in the Beit Hanoun area on Nov. 8, 2006 on the basis of intelligence information that militants were planning rocket attacks on Israel. An Israeli military committee that investigated the shelling decided in February that 'the injury of the Palestinian civilians was not intentional and was directly due to a rare and severe failure in the artillery fire control system.'
A statem"
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