GENEVA: The UN Human Rights Council will reopen the debate about alleged war crimes in Gaza later this week after Palestinians succeeded in gathering enough support to call a special meeting, officials said Tuesday.
The debate will start Thursday, a day after the UN Security Council in New York discusses the Goldstone report, which accuses Israeli forces and Palestinians of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during Israel’s Dec. 27-Jan. 18 war on Gaza.
UN officials say 18 of the council’s 47 members signed a motion calling for the debate. The backers are: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Senegal.
Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian Authority’s UN ambassador in Geneva, said the two-day debate would examine the report as well as recent incidents of violence in Jerusalem.
It will be the sixth time that Israel has been the subject of a special session by the Geneva-based council. Each previous session has resulted in a resolution critical of Israel.
“We’ll wait to take a stance on the debate itself once it begins,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.
