Israel Condemns UN Gaza Report

May 7, 2009 at 12:32 pm | Posted in Lifescape | Leave a comment

 

 

Peres said Israel would not apologise over its
Gaza assault [AFP]

Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, has condemned a UN investigation into attacks on its facilities in Gaza as “outrageous” and “one-sided”.

Peres said Israel doesn’t “accept one word” of the report, which found that Israel was to blame for at least seven direct attacks on UN operations during its assault on Gaza earlier this year.

“We think it’s outrageous, we will never accept it. We don’t think we have to apologise because we have the right to defend the lives of our women and children,” Peres said after meeting Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, in New York on Wednesday.

Ban has faced criticism for refusing to order a further UN investigation into Israel’s assault on Gaza despite the report’s recommendation that he do so.

 

The Israeli president insisted that his country has cooperated fully with the UN enquiry team and but conceded that “we made some mistakes”.

The UN report, commissioned by Ban, said the Israeli military intentionally fired at UN facilities and civilians hiding in them during the war and used disproportionate force.

Missiles, bombs and small arms were all used by Israel against the UN – leading to dozens of deaths.

The UN’s own fuel and aid depot in Gaza was hit with Israeli artillery shells causing widespread damage.

The attack continued for two hours after the UN asked the Israeli military for it to stop.

 

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