JERUSALEM/KUWAIT – UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has called for a full investigation into Israel’s shelling of three of the organisation’s buildings in the Gaza Strip during its three-week assault against Hamas.
Mr Ban condemned as “outrageous, shocking and alarming” the destruction he had seen while touring Gaza, and described the violence wrought by Israel and Hamas rockets as “excessive use” of force. “I have seen only a fraction of the destruction. This is shocking and alarming,” he said.
“These are heartbreaking scenes . . . and I am deeply grieved by what I have seen today,” he added, standing against a backdrop of still-smoking food aid in a UN warehouse destroyed by Israeli gunfire last Thursday.
Demanding a proper judicial inquiry and guarantees that UN buildings would not be attacked again, Mr Ban said: “I am not able to describe how I am feeling, having seen this site of the bombing of the United Nations compound. This was an outrageous and totally unacceptable attack against the United Nations.” An aide to Mr Ban said he had come to Gaza to express solidarity with the Palestinians who had suffered during the assault.
Mr Ban’s comments follow furious remarks by senior officials of the UN Relief and Works Agency at the weekend when two children were killed by Israeli shellfire at a school where hundreds of people were taking refuge. Officials then called for an inquiry into possible war crimes.
During the three weeks of conflict, Israeli shells hit the UN headquarters in Gaza as well as killing almost 40 people near one of the schools in the worst incident.
Although the Israeli military announced on Saturday it would launch an inquiry at the “highest level” into the five most controversial incidents where civilians were killed, including the targeting of UN buildings, it appeared to have prejudged that inquiry by adding that Israel Defence Forces investigations had shown hostile fire was coming from or near all five locations before they were hit.
Mr Ban’s comments came as Israel’s foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, made clear Israel would consider acceding to a UN security council resolution demanding a full lifting of the economic blockade on Gaza only when Hamas released Corp Gilad Shalit, in captivity since 2006.
Arab leaders agreed meanwhile at a summit in Kuwait to help rebuild the battered Gaza Strip, but failed to bridge differences over the Israeli offensive.
The conflict underscored the Arab divide between those allied to Egypt and Saudi Arabia on one side, and those allied to Syria and Qatar on the other.
Arab leaders condemned Israel’s attack and demanded its immediate withdrawal from Gaza in the summit declaration read by Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa. It called on Israel to punish those who had committed war crimes during the offensive.
“The summit is holding Israel legally responsible for war crimes it committed and for taking the necessary action to pursue those who committed the crimes,” Mr Moussa said.
A debate over the strength of the wording on Gaza delayed the concluding session. Mr Moussa, who had pushed for stronger condemnation of Israel, later said the declaration bore the imprint of the diplomatic tensions among Arab leaders. “Arab affairs are still tense,” he said. “Things are still not good in my opinion and that’s why the declaration was issued like that . . . Other things needed to be included and were not.”
A meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Kuwait on Friday prepared resolutions including a pledge of support for the Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas. But another meeting in Doha took a much stronger line, calling on Arab countries to review their ties with Israel and to suspend a 2002 Arab peace initiative.
– ( Guardianservice, Reuters)