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The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said that Benjamin Netanyahu has complained to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the investigation being conducted by the world body into the 50-day war is one-sided.
After meeting with Ban in New York on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that the UN Human Rights Council “is not focusing its inquiry on Hamas, which used U.N. facilities in order to fire at Israel”, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Netanyahu said that the UN’s attitude towards Israel was “disproportionate” and insisted that Israel “did not direct its attacks against civilians”.
Israel has accused Palestinian movement Hamas of launching rockets from civilian areas and UN schools during the 50-day war, with the Israeli army saying it has videos to prove the claims. Israel had launched strikes on UN schools providing shelter to displaced Palestinians, killing hundreds of people – the strikes were severely condoned by the UN. Almost 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 Israelis, most of them soldiers, were killed during the 50-day war.
Rolando Gomez, spokesman for the UNHRC, had said in August that both Hamas and Israel “will be subjected to a thorough investigation”.
Israel has vehemently opposed the commission’s investigation, the results of which are to be published by March 2015.
The UN has said that Ban spoke with Netanyahu about the “urgent need to address the underlying causes of the crisis, including the need to lift the closure of Gaza”, referring to the Israeli blockade of the enclave in place since 2006. Removing the blockade is thought of as the key step for consolidating the ceasefire.
The UN also said that Ban had voiced “deep concern at (Israel’s) continued settlement activity” in Palestinian territory, which is illegal according to international law. The thorny issue has on multiple occasions derailed peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians.