The United Nations today announced that, it has given the go ahead to the resolution out for before the international body, that calls for investigations for the alleged war crimes committed dung the Israeli offensive in Gaza strip in last winter. The resolution states that, both Israel and Palestine should conduct independent probes to verify the war crime claims.

As per the resolution, the U.N Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has been requested to submit the report from both the countries to the United Nations General Assembly in three months time. It has also been demanded that, strict actions should be taken against either country, who fails to uphold the resolution as targeting non-combatants and civilian infrastructure is a gross human rights violation and a serious war crime. If either Israel or Palestine is found guilty of these crimes, then appropriate actions need to be taken against the offender by the corresponding bodies of the U.N including the Security Council. The resolution was put forward by the 20 Arab League members and it was passed with a vote count of 114-18.

In a statement the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations said,

“This resolution represents yet another pretext to bash Israel at the U.N. and is detrimental to any positive diplomatic engagement in the region.”

Singing the same tune, Israel’s long time ally, the United States of America also expressed its disappointment and concerns about the resolution. The U.S Ambassador to the United Nations, Alejandro Wolff stated that, although the U.S takes the matters of human rights very seriously, especially in the Palestinian region, yet the Goldstone report has been biased and has harshly criticized Israel for its defending its right to existence and hasn’t relegated Hamas’s share of responsibility. Last year’s conflict between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the Palestinian militant organization, Hamas, was instigated by the Katyusha rockets that were fired targeting the Israeli cities.

Via CNN.