Another step closer to the ICC

The United Nations has delivered an unbiased look into what transpired in Gaza last summer

The United Nations Human Rights Council has delivered an unbiased look into what transpired in Gaza last summer. Fabrice Coferini / AFP

The United Nations Human Rights Council report on last summer’s war in the Gaza Strip is a clear and level-headed investigation into the 52 days of fighting. The report, which Israeli officials as usual decried as biased, found that both Israel and Hamas may be guilty of war crimes.

While Hamas was accused of using indiscriminate violence towards Israeli “civilian population centres” and was harshly criticised for its extrajudicial executions of alleged collaborators during and after the conflict, the findings concerning Israel’s conduct were damning in scale. Israel conducted more than 6,000 airstikes, used 14,500 tank shells and 35,000 artillery shells on one of the most heavily populated pieces of land on the planet. This wanton use of violence led to the destruction of nearly 18,000 buildings in Gaza, among them critical infrastructure.

This report, which analysed the conduct of both parties, is the correct response from the international community to the scale of violence in Gaza. That Israel attempted to block every aspect of the report – from barring researchers entering the Gaza Strip, to refusing to cooperate with investigators, to releasing its own report that glossed over the conduct of its forces – underlined the difficulties faced by the UNHRC in delivering a balanced narrative of the bloody conflict. Despite the challenges, the researchers managed this but it is, of course, just a first step and there is still much work to be done if we are to avoid another outbreak of violence in Gaza.

Given the media attention and Israel’s persistent and forceful condemnations of the report’s findings, it is wise to read it in full. It is worth it. Its sober analysis and solid investigative material makes clear to any rational reader that the next step in this conflict runs through the International Criminal Court. In other words, with this impartial report in hand, the Palestinians should and must pursue Israel at the ICC. Israel, for its part, is busy preparing its defences for such a battle. The Palestinian case may drown in legal bureaucracy at The Hague. Even so, there are few other options on the table to prevent another round of unnecessary bloodletting in Gaza.