Israel said Wednesday it would not appoint an independent inquiry into its conduct in the Gaza Strip war, rejecting a recommendation included in a U.N. report that accused Tel Aviv of war crimes. According to the AP, the U.N. report said Israel used disproportionate firepower and disregarded the likelihood of civilian deaths in last winter's offensive.
The report also urged Israel to conduct an independent investigation into its war conduct or face the prospect of referring the case to international war crimes prosecutors.
Government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel would not heed the call for an independent investigation. "This report was conceived in sin and is the product of a union between propaganda and bias," Regev said. "Israel is a country with a fiercely independent judiciary ... Everything done by the military in Israel is open to judicial review by the independent judiciary."
Hamas officials welcomed THE harsh condemnation of Israel and rejected criticism of the Palestinian fighters. "The Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance were in a position of self-defense and not of attack. One cannot compare the simple capabilities of the resistance with the great strength of the occupation," said Hamas' prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh.
