In the wake of a UN report that blasts Israel for damaging UN buildings and killing staff during its three-week invasion of Gaza, the secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, said yesterday he will seek reparations.
Speaking with journalists following the publication of a report by the UN’s Board of Inquiry, Mr Ban held back from criticising Israel, but said the world body was seeking cash compensation for damage sustained.
A 27-page synopsis of the report, made available to Security Council members yesterday, accuses Israel of grave offences, including deliberately striking UN employees and premises in Gaza.
“I intend to seek reparation or reimbursement of loss and damage incurred by the United Nations,” Mr Ban said at UN headquarters yesterday, adding that “the Israeli government has agreed to meet UN officials to address the some of board’s recommendations”.
The UN’s eagerly anticipated report on Israel’s onslaught of the Hamas-run territory examined what Mr Ban called the “nine most serious” attacks on properties and staff of the world body. They include raids on four schools operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), two UN offices, a convoy, a food warehouse and a health centre.
The attacks resulted in the deaths of civilians, UN staff and damage to properties.
Among them was the widely reported Israeli mortar bombardment of Jabalia School, in Al Fakhoura, on Jan 6, which caused the deaths of more than 40 people sheltering inside and nearby.
In its recommendations, the UN report urges Israel to admit that its public claims about Palestinian militants firing from within Jabalia School, and likewise from the UN’s field office compound on Jan 15, “were untrue and are regretted”.
The four-strong research team, headed by Ian Martin, found that the Israeli Defence Force was responsible for “death, injuries and damage” in six of the nine incidents – often causing the deaths of civilians sheltering in UN facilities for safety.
Israeli forces attacked the UN premises despite have been provided by the UN with satellite-navigation locations of the buildings in advance and having been told they were being used for humanitarian purposes. The damage is estimated to figure close to US$11 million (Dh40m).
“The Board found that the government of Israel is responsible for the deaths and injuries that occurred within the United Nations premises and the physical damage that was done to the United Nations premises and property,” the report said.
The document had been kept secret for several weeks amid suggestions that the UN was under pressure to alter its findings, although Mr Ban said he had not “watered down” the report before release.
The secretary general ruled out any future UN secretariat investigations into Israel’s conduct during the invasion, which ended on Jan 18 after the loss of more than 1,400 Palestinian lives.
An Israeli newspaper quoted a US diplomat to the UN as saying the report was “unprecedented in its gravity towards Israel, and Israel will have to lick the wounds of the report for many years, if the current wording is accepted as is”.
Israel was quick to denounce the document. A foreign ministry spokesman described it as “tendentious” and “patently biased” and said it failed to address violations by Hamas, which has ruled the coastal strip since taking power in 2007.
Israel’s own investigations “proved beyond doubt that the IDF did not intentionally fire at the UN installations” the spokesman said, blaming instead Hamas militants for drawing the combat into built-up areas.
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