UN Starts Investigation into Gaza Attacks

The United Nations is concerned about the lack of respect for the neutrality of its facilities.

Israeli attacks on U.N. facilities and how Palestinian fighters misused some U.N. founded schools for weapons storage prompted the international organization to launch an investigation, officials said Wednesday. The investigators will be working in the field for approximately three weeks. "They are visiting the affected sites, they are conducting meetings and interviews with people who were involved," Robert Turner, the director of operations for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Gaza told reporters. "It is specifically to look at violations of neutrality of U.N. installations." Israeli artillery hit at least six U.N. facilities during the country’s “Protective Edge” military assault on Gaza. Israel justified the attacks saying that Palestinian militants used the premises to fire rockets into Israel. Israel has accused Hamas of storing munitions in several U.N. founded and run schools, which prompted Israel’s criticism about the neutrality of the investigation. Both Hamas and Israel agreed to cooperate with the investigation, as was declared by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The U.N. inquiry is seen as "an authentic investigation with potential for us to improve our performance in the course of conflict and learn from our mistakes," said Paul Hirschson, spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry. Meanwhile, Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman for Hamas, said "Israel's selective process to deal with a committee and boycott another is unacceptable and it damages the reputation of the United Nations before anything else."