UN names 3 experts to probe Gaza war crimes

GENEVA: The UN has named three experts to an international commission of inquiry into possible human rights violations and war crimes committed by both sides during Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip. William Schabas, a Canadian professor of international law, will head the panel whose other members are Doudou Diene, a veteran UN human rights expert from Senegal, and Amal Alamuddin, a British-Lebanese lawyer engaged to be married to Hollywood actor George Clooney. The panel is due to report by March 2015 to the UN Human Rights Council. A semblance of normal life returned to Gaza as a 72-hour truce took hold and negotiators sat down in Cairo to seek a permanent end to hostilities. Quiet returned to the enclave from midnight (2100 GMT on Sunday), the fruit of days of Egyptian-brokered mediation to stem violence which has killed 1,940 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side since July 8. Palestinian emergency services said that a one-month-old baby girl died on Monday of injuries sustained during the fighting, raising the overall death toll in Gaza to 1,940. With no reports of violations on either side, shops and businesses started to reopen and people ventured onto the streets of the war-torn coastal enclave which is home to 1.8 million Palestinians. In Cairo, the Arab League urged Egypt to continue its efforts “to cement the cease-fire agreement into a lasting truce,” according to a statement posted by the Middle East News Agency. Talal Okal, a Gaza-based political analyst, predicted Israel would “try to drag out the talks as long as possible, to have quiet without making concessions and forcing Hamas to minimize its demands.” AGENCIES