Israel called the Goldstone Commission Report "nauseating" on Tuesday, saying it created an unjust "equivalence of a democratic state with a terror organization" and lacked the context of a decade of terrorist attacks by Hamas.
The commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council and led by former South African constitutional court judge Richard Goldstone, concluded that "Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity," during Operation Cast Lead from late December to mid-January.
The report "concludes there is also evidence that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes, as well as possibly crimes against humanity," by firing rockets at cities in southern Israel, the UN said.
The four-member investigative panel recommended that the UN Security Council require Israel to launch its own investigations, "that are independent and in conformity with international standards," into the Gaza operation and to appoint a committee of experts to oversee the "progress, effectiveness and genuineness" of these investigations. If it failed to do so within three months, the report said, the Security Council should refer Israel's alleged war crimes to the International Criminal Court.
It was not clear in the immediate aftermath of the report what the legal and political ramifications would be. Governments worldwide were mum Tuesday as they studied the document.
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