UN rights body mulling probe

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GBNEWS24 DESK//

The UN Human Rights Council will consider launching a broad, international investigation into abuses in the latest Gaza conflict and also into “systematic” abuses, according to a proposal as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Cairo to strengthen efforts to shore up ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

The Rights Council will hold a special session on the latest conflict today, at the request of Pakistan, as coordinator of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the state of Palestine.

Those countries submitted a draft resolution late on Tuesday that would establish an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate all human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, since April 13. It would also examine all underlying root causes of tensions and instability, “including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity,” the draft said.

The independent team would collect and analyse evidence of crimes perpetrated, including forensic material, “in order to maximise the possibility of its admissibility in legal proceedings”.

Reporting back in June 2022, it would identify those responsible to try and end impunity and ensure legal accountability.

Since being set up in 2006, the UN rights council, a 47-member forum, has held eight previous special sessions that have condemned Israel and set up several probes into alleged war crimes.

Meanwhile, Blinken arrived in Cairo yesterday after meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to throw Washington’s support behind the Friday truce that ended 11 days of heavy Israeli bombing of Gaza and rocket fire from the enclave into Israel.

Israeli air strikes and artillery fire on Gaza killed 253 Palestinians, including 66 children, in 11 days of conflict from May 10.  Rocket and other fire from Gaza claimed 12 lives in Israel.

After talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas at his headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Blinken vowed to rebuild US relations with the Palestinians by reopening a consulate in Jerusalem, as well as giving millions in aid for the war-battered Gaza Strip.

In Cairo, Blinken is to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi before flying on to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah II.

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