UN rights chief condemns Israel and Hamas

Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip could amount to war crimes, UN rights chief Navi Pillay said Wednesday while also condemning indiscriminate rocket attacks by Palestinian militants Hamas.
      
"There seems to be a strong possibility that international law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes," Pillay told an emergency session on Israel's Gaza offensive at the UN Human Rights Council, citing attacks that have killed Palestinian civilians, including children.
      
She said Israelis also had a right to live without constant fear of rocket attacks.
      
"Once again, the principles of distinction and precaution are clearly not being observed during such indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups," she said.
      
The council -- which is the United Nations' top human rights forum -- was poised to call for an international inquiry into Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territories.
      
"Israel is in the process of committing hideous crimes," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told the session.
     
 He said residential areas had been flattened, with 2,500 houses destroyed and medical centres targeted.
     
 "What Israel is doing is a crime against humanity," he said.
      
The meeting was called by Arab nations and fellow members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
     
Israel's UN ambassador, Eviator Manor, hit back.
      
"Their Pavlovian instinct demands they react against Israel, in order to divert attention from their own human rights violation," he told the council.
      
"Hamas is committing war...