Most news outlets are covering this story:
NY Times: U.N. Report on Gaza Finds Evidence of War Crimes by Israel and by Palestinian Militants
The commission said that “the scale of the devastation was unprecedented” in Gaza, where it counted 2,251 Palestinian deaths and 18,000 homes destroyed, and also cited “immense distress and disruption” to Israeli civilians, along with $25 million in civilian property damage.
Palestinian and Israeli children were “savagely affected by the events,” the report said in a distinct effort at evenhandedness, adding that children on both sides “suffered from bed-wetting, shaking at night, clinging to parents, nightmares and increased levels of aggressiveness.”
Haaretz:
Israel responds to Gaza war report: UNHRC has 'singular obsession with Israel'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the head of the inquiry commission, which was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, of "inciting and agitating against Israel."
Education Minister Nafatali Bennett said the report "has blood on its hands for allowing the murder of Jews."
"This report was commissioned by a notoriously biased institution, given an obviously biased mandate," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said.
"The UN Human Rights Council has a singular obsession with Israel, passing more country specific resolutions against Israel than against Syria, Iran and North Korea combined. The commission of inquiry's mandate presumed Israel guilty from the start," Nachshon added.
Guardian:
UN accuses Israel and Hamas of possible war crimes during 2014 Gaza war
Calling on Israel to “break with its lamentable track record” and hold wrongdoers responsible, the hard-hitting report commissioned by the UN human rights council laid most of the blame for Israel’s suspected violations at the feet of the country’s political and military leadership. The commission said leaders should have been aware as the war progressed that their failure to change course was leading to huge civilian casualties.
“Those responsible for suspected violations of international law at all levels of the political and military establishments must be brought to justice,” it says.
Israel, which refused to co-operate, said on Monday the report failed to recognise the “profound difference” between “Israel’s moral behaviour” and the “terror organisations” it confronted.
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said: “The report is biased. The commission that wrote it is under a committee that does everything but protect human rights.”
On
airstrikes targetting homes, the report says:
Many of the incidents took place in the evening or at dawn, when families gathered for iftar and suhhur, the Ramadan meals, or at night, when people were asleep. The timing of the attacks increased the likelihood that many people, often entire families, would be at home. Attacking residential buildings rendered women particularly vulnerable to death and injury.
In six of the cases examined by the commission, and in most cases reported on by non-governmental organisations, there is little or no information available to explain why residential buildings, which are prima facie civilian objects immune from attack, were considered to be legitimate military objectives.
Israel should provide specific information on the effective contribution of a given house or inhabitant to military action and the clear advantage to be gained by the attack. Should a strike directly and intentionally target a house in the absence of a specific military objective, this would amount to a violation of the principle of distinction. It may also constitute a direct attack against civilian objects or civilians, a war crime under international criminal law.
A couple more below the fold:
Ma'an News: UN report: 'War crimes' likely by both sides in 2014 Gaza war
The report decried the "huge firepower" used in Gaza, with Israel launching more than 6,000 airstrikes and firing 50,000 artillery shells during the 51-day operation. A third of the civilians killed were children. Palestinian armed groups meanwhile fired 4,881 rockets and 1,753 mortars towards Israel, killing six civilians and injuring at least 1,600 others.
The report pointed out that hundreds of Palestinian civilians had been killed in their own homes, especially women and children, providing heart-wrenching testimony from a member of the Al Najjar family who lost 19 of his relatives in an attack in Khan Younis on July 26.
"We all died that day, even those who survived," he said.
According to the report, at least 142 families lost three or more members in an attack on residential buildings during last summer's war, resulting in 742 deaths.
WaPo:
U.N. rights report: Evidence of war crimes by Israel and Hamas over Gaza
The special commission said it was “deeply moved by the immense suffering of Palestinian and Israeli victims, who have been subjected to repeated rounds of violence.”
The chair of the commission, former New York Supreme Court Justice Mary McGowan Davis, told a press briefing in Geneva: “The extent of the devastation and human suffering in Gaza was unprecedented and will impact generations to come.”
Jerusalem Post:
Bullet points of key issues in the 200-page United Nations Human Rights Council commission of inquiry on last summer's conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Turkel Commission: The report and McGowan-Davis hone in on the lack of implementing 'Recommendation 2' of Israel’s quasi-government February 2013 Turkel Report on whether its self-investigating satisfies international law. She totally skipped over its conclusion that Israel’s apparatus meets international law requirements and zoned in on only which of the 18 recommendations made by Turkel to improve investigations have not been implemented. The state has been very slow with addressing some of these and this could be an issue since it was an Israel-sponsored group.
Warnings: The report unequivocally declares “roof-knocking,” firing a missile without a warhead onto a roof so it will not explode, but will make a loud bang and scare civilians into evacuating before attacking with an armed missile, as ineffective. The Goldstone Report made the same declaration, but whereas there are many international critics of the policy, many foreign military figures and top military law academics have declared the tactic effective, or even cutting-edge and worthy of emulation.