BICOM

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar threatened a new round of violence in in Gaza during the last week of Ramadan next month.

In an interview with Lebanese Al-Mayadeen television, Sinwar said he would not hesitate to sacrifice men, women and children in the process.

His remarks followed a UN Human Right’s Council (UNHRC) resolution to “urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry” to investigate “the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by the Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians”.

Israel argued that Hamas itself said 50 of the 62 Palestinians killed at the border last week were their own members, but 29 countries still voted in favour of an inquiry. The US and Australia voted against. The UK was one of 14 abstentions, along with Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Switzerland.

UK Middle East Minister Alastair Burt explained the UK’s decision yesterday in the House of Commons, citing the lack of impartiality in the language of the resolution. Burt added that the UK’s “abstention must not be misconstrued” and expressed the government’s concern over the loss of life at the border.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley pointed to the UNHRC’s disproportionate focus on Israel at a time when “Venezuela lurches toward dictatorship, Iran imprisons thousands of political opponents, and ethnic cleansing has taken place in Burma”.

Israel criticised the UNHRC and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “hypocritical and biased body.” The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the decision was “guided by hypocrisy and absurdity”.

The inquiry is due to report back in March 2019.