[JURIST] A report [text, DOC; materials] released Monday by the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict [official website] found that both Israel and Hamas may have committed war crimes during the conflict. The 51 day Gaza Conflict [BBC backgrounder] resulted in widespread destruction and over a thousand dead. The report notes that the majority of the destruction, as well as 1,462 Palestinian civilian deaths, were a direct result of Israeli military action, most notably, the use of airstrikes and weaponry with a wide-kill radius in densely populated areas where civilian casualties were almost a certainty. The report also finds that the Palestinian response of rockets and mortars resulted in six deaths and over a thousand injuries. In her concluding remarks, committee chair McGowan Davis [UN Watch report] emphasized the need for both sides to hold their wrongdoers accountable as a way of preventing similar future conflicts.

The Israel-Palestine conflict continues to be a significant international legal issue. Earlier this month an international group of high-ranking military officials and diplomats issued its own report [JURIST report], finding that Israel met or exceeded international standards during the conflict. In April the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) [official website] ordered a female Palestinian legislative council member to serve a six-month detention without trial [JURIST report] under a system meant to protect from attacks from militants. Later that month, a UN independent board of inquiry uncovered evidence [JURIST report] that at least 44 Palestinians were killed and 227 injured by “Israeli action” during the Gaza conflict of 2014. In May, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] condemned Hamas for human rights abuses [JURIST report], accusing the group of leading a series of abductions, torturous acts and unlawful killings against Palestinians.