UN chief can't judge if Gaza probes are 'credible'

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he could not determine whether the Israelis or Palestinians had conducted credible investigations into allegations of war crimes during last year's Gaza conflict, as required under a U.N. resolution.

In a highly anticipated report released Thursday night to the 192-nation General Assembly, Ban said "no determination can be made on the implementation of the resolution by the parties concerned."

A U.N. panel, overseen by a respected South African jurist, Richard Goldstone, found evidence in September that both Israel and Palestinian militants may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the fighting, in which 13 Israelis and almost 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including many civilians.

In November, the General Assembly endorsed the Goldstone report, which accused Israel of using disproportionate force and deliberately targeting civilians. It also accused the militant Islamic Hamas group of firing rockets indiscriminately toward communities in southern Israel.

The assembly urged Israel and the Palestinians to investigate alleged war crimes in Gaza or face the possibility of Security Council action if they didn't, under an Arab-drafted resolution. Any action by the Security Council, however, is unlikely because the U.S. - an ally of Israel - holds veto power as one of the five permanent members of the 15-nation body.

Israel says it has launched investigations into 150 separate incidents, including 36 criminal probes, and has gathered evidence from almost 100 Palestinians complainants or witnesses. The Palestinians only created a commission to carry out an investigation in late January.

Ban wrote only a two-page preface to the 72-page report, which is largely composed of Israel's nearly 60-page response, a Palestinian letter saying they're creating the commission and a brief letter from Switzerland in its role as depository of the Geneva Conventions.

Human rights group Amnesty International's Geoffrey Mock said Friday that Ban "sidestepped his responsibility" by failing to make an assessment of the Israeli and Palestinian investigations.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. observer, told reporters Friday that Israel's investigation is not credible or independent as claimed, and that a number of obstacles led to the delay in creating the Palestinian investigative commission.

"We acknowledge the fact that we are just at the initial stages of doing what is required of us," he said.

On Friday, Israel's Foreign Ministry issued a response to the secretary-general's report.

"Israel expresses satisfaction with the fact that the U.N. Secretary-General accurately reflected the document Israel submitted this week. This Israeli document gives full expression to Israel's commitment to carry out independent and trustworthy investigations that meet the standards of international law," the statement read.