Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli assault on Gaza, most of them civilians
The UN war crimes probe into Israel’s assault on Gaza is likely to be scuppered by Tel Aviv’s refusal to co-operate, the chief investigator has admitted.
Judge Richard Goldstone (pictured), who led a UN fact-finding team to Israel and Gaza, said the investigation was unlikely to lead to prosecutions.
Israel has refused to co-operate, depriving Mr Goldstone’s team of access to military sources.
The chief barrier remains the lack of a court with clear jurisdiction to hear any resulting cases stemming from the investigation into Israel’s bloody three-week onslaught on Gaza which ended in January.
And Hamas security often accompanied his team during last week’s trip to Gaza, raising questions about witnesses’ ability to testify freely, Mr Goldstone said.
“From a practical political point of view, I wish I could be optimistic,” he said.
Nevertheless, he hoped that his group’s report, due in September, will spur action by other UN bodies and foreign governments.
Mr Goldstone, a South African judge involved in the war crimes trials regarding the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and who was involved in the settlement to end apartheid, refused to comment on the investigation’s content.
But Gazans who had spoken to the team revealed some of their accusations.
Majed Hajjaj said that he had watched Israeli soldiers shoot his mother and sister dead as they fled their home waving white flags.
But he said: “The committee was just like all the others who have come. There are lots of reports written but they’re nothing more than ink on paper.”
The UN team also visited a mosque which witnesses said had been hit by an Israeli missile, killing 16.
Palestinian human rights groups say that more than 1,400 Gazans were killed in the Israeli assault, most of them civilians.
Thirteen Israelis were killed, three of them civilians.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel had made a “clear decision” not to co-operate with Mr Goldstone’s team, alleging anti-Israeli bias by the probe’s sponsor the UN Human Rights Council.
Tel Aviv’s stance meant that Mr Goldstone – who is Jewish and has close ties to Israel – had to enter Gaza via Egypt.
Tags: invasion of Gaza, Israel, Palestinians killed, United Nations, war crimes
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