GENEVA – Israel may have committed war crimes by killing civilians and shelling houses and hospitals during its two-week-old offensive in the Gaza Strip, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Wednesday. Pillay, opening an emergency debate at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, also condemned the indiscriminate firing of rockets and mortars by Hamas. Citing cases Israeli air strikes and shelling hitting houses and hospitals in the coastal enclave, she said: “These are just a few examples where there seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes. “Every one of these incidents must be properly and independently investigated,” Pillay said in some of her strongest comments on the conflict. Saudi Arabia reiterated its call for an urgent meeting of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to take steps to ensure the application of the Convention in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Al-Quds. This came in the Kingdom's speech delivered by its Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Abdulwahab Sheikh before the Special Session of the Human Rights Council. Israeli forces pounded Gaza on Wednesday as US Secretary of State John Kerry said on a visit to Israel ceasefire talks had made some progress. In a blow to Israel's economy, US and European air carriers halted flights to the Jewish state citing concern over a militant rocket from Gaza. Palestinian medics said two worshippers were killed and 30 wounded in an attack on a mosque in the heart of the densely populated Zeitoun neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City. – Agencies
