Israel’s Gaza blockade violates rights of population: UN probe

Geneva: Israel’s blockade of Gaza has impeded the realisation of every right of the population there and strangulated its economy, a UN investigator told the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) today.
“Three major conflicts in six years and the blockade have strangled Gaza’s economy and impeded the realisation of virtually every right of the population of Gaza, hampering access to education, housing, health, food, water and sanitation,” Chairperson of the UN Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on the 2014 Gaza Conflict, Mary Mc Gowan Davis, said while presenting her report at the 29th session of the UNHRC.

“The timing of the attacks, the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects and the razing of densely populated neighbourhoods raises concerns that the strikes may have constituted military tactics reflective of a broader policy, approved at least tacitly by decision-makers at the highest levels of the government of Israel,” the former New York judge told the Council.
The UN investigators called on all sides to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has opened a separate preliminary investigation, adding that current accountability mechanisms may not be adequate to address this issue.

The Gaza conflict was being debated under Agenda ‘Item 7’ which deals with human rights situation in Palestinian and other occupied Arab territories.