UN rights chief urges probe into possible Israeli regime war crimes

The UN human rights chief says that the illegal Zionist entity has systematically deprived Palestinians of their human rights, with 1.9 million in Gaza "caged in a toxic slum from birth to death."

According to Press TV, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein opened a special session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva Friday to decide whether to dispatch an independent commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of Israeli regime war crimes in Gaza.

The official backed calls for an international probe into Zionist entity's deadly reaction to protests along the Gaza fence which he described "wholly disproportionate."

More than than 100 Gazan have been killed by Israeli snipers in six weeks, with Zeid saying there is "little evidence" to back up Israeli claims that it tried to minimize casualties during Gaza protests. 

"The stark contrast in casualties on both sides is ... suggestive of a wholly disproportionate response," he told the council. 

Many of the Palestinians injured and killed "were completely unarmed, (and) were shot in the back, in the chest, in the head and limbs with live ammunition," he said.

"Although some of the demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails, used slingshots to throw stones, flew burning kites into Israel and attempted to use wire-cutters against the two fences between Gaza and Israel, these actions alone do not appear to constitute the imminent threat to life or deadly injury which could justify the use of lethal force." 

Zeid called  "an investigation that is international, independent and impartial, in the hope the truth regarding these matters will lead to justice." 

The Israeli mission at the United Nations has been ordered to prevent the investigation, said a Thursday report by Israel’s Channel 10.  

On Friday, Palestinians were gathering for fresh protests in the Gaza Strip after Israeli massacre of more than 60 people in the besieged enclave on Monday. 

The committee which organized weekly “March of Return” rallies has called on the Gazans to come out en masse on the first day of the fasting month of Ramadan, under the slogan “Friday for the martyrs and the wounded.”

SS