UN chief to set up Gaza war inquiry
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said he is setting up an inquiry into attacks on UN facilities during Israel's recent offensive in Gaza.
Ban was speaking at a UN Security Council on Tuesday after his visit to Gaza, including the Jabalia refugee camp, where civilians had sought protection during the conflict.
"I look forward to a thorough investigation by the Israel Defense Forces of this and other incidents in which UN facilities sustained hits and many innocent people were killed," he said.
"I am planning to move forward with an independent board of inquiry to look into the most serious of those cases, as well as instances in which weaponry was found on UN premises."
He said the independent investigation would look into most serious cases where innocent people were killed. He did not provide any further details about the investigation.
The inquiry will also analyse the reported use of UN facilities by Palestinian militants to store weapons.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday said that current relations between Israel and Palestine were "unsustainable" and that the United States was conscious of the urgency of the situation.
"The current situation, the status quo, is unsustainable," he said at a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin.
Some 2,100 Palestinians were killed in the conflict, along with 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel.
The UN says that most of the Palestinian dead were civilians.
Israel launched the offensive in Gaza on 8 July, with the stated aim of stopping militants firing rockets and mortars at its territory.
Following several short-lived ceasefires, both sides agreed to an open-ended truce on 26 August which has so far held.
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