The U.N. human rights office stated on Tuesday that Palestinian armed groups’ captivity in heavily populated areas and the Israeli operation to free four hostages in Gaza may constitute war crimes because they killed civilians.
Gazan health officials have reported that the operation resulted in the deaths of over 270 Palestinians.
Israel said the air assault and operation took place on Saturday in a residential neighborhood in central Gaza’s Nuseirat area, where Hamas had held hostages in two apartment blocks.
Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office, expressed concern regarding the Israeli forces’ adherence to the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution, which are outlined in the laws of war, in light of the manner in which the raid was conducted in a densely populated area.
Laurence further stated that Palestinian armed groups’ hostage-taking practices in densely populated areas were “putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk from the hostilities.”
“All these actions by both parties may amount to war crimes,” according to him.
Following the statement, Israel’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva accused the High Commissioner for Human Rights of “slandering Israel.”
Israeli authorities estimate 116 hostages in the coastal enclave, including at least 40 declared dead in absentia.
