A report from UN Aecretary General Ban Ki-moon indicates he was uncertain whether UN demands were met for “credible” investigations into allegations that Israel or the Palestinians deliberately targeted civilians during last year's Gaza conflict. The highly anticipated report released Thursday night to the 192-nation General Assembly cautioned that such investigations must be conducted “wherever there are credible allegations of human rights abuses.” Israel says it has launched investigations into 150 separate incidents, including 36 criminal probes so far, and gathered evidence from almost 100 Palestinians who had complaints or were witnesses. In a short preface to his 72-page report, nearly all of which is responses by Israel and the Palestinians, Ban concluded he could not ultimately determine yet whether Israel and the Palestinians had met the General Assembly's demands to carry out credible, independent investigations into their own actions. He said he hoped the assembly's resolution will, in fact, result in probes “that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards.” But, he added that “no determination can be made on the implementation of the resolution by the parties concerned.” An expert UN panel found in September that both Israel and Palestinians committed war crimes.
