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Gaza: UN chief Ban Ki-Moon rules evidence ’incomplete’

05 February 2010 04:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. There is not yet enough evidence to say whether Israel and the Palestinians are complying with UN demands to probe the Gaza conflict, the head of the UN says, APA reports citing BBC.

In a report, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said submissions by both parties remained incomplete. They were asked to respond by Friday to last year’s Goldstone report, which accused both of war crimes in Gaza.

Mr Ban said a ruling was not possible as Israel’s probe was ongoing and the Palestinians only began recently. "No determination can be made on the implementation of the (UN) resolution by the parties concerned," Mr Ban said in a report to the UN General Assembly.

The General Assembly has demanded that both Israel and Hamas launch independent investigations into their conduct during the 22-day Israeli operation which began in December 2008.

Both submitted dossiers to the UN before the end of January, and Israel says its army has disciplined two officers for their conduct during the operation. However, it rejected some key findings contained in the report by Richard Goldstone, among them charges of intentionally targeting civilians and the disproportionate use of force, reports the BBC’s UN correspondent Barbara Plett.

Nevertheless, Mr Ban praised Israel for diligently following up on allegations made against it, the Associated Press reported.
A former international war crimes prosecutor, Mr Goldstone investigated the offensive and said crimes had been committed on both sides.
He accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure during the conflict, in which human rights groups say about 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died. Israel has vigorously denied the conclusions of the Goldstone report, calling it a "distortion".

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank set up a high-level commission to probe the allegations and submit its conclusions to Mr Ban.