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Pillay: Israel, Hamas committing war crimes

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, South African Navi Pillay, answers journalist's questions about the human rights situation in the world, during a press conference at the Geneva Press Club, in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, South African Navi Pillay, answers journalist's questions about the human rights situation in the world, during a press conference at the Geneva Press Club, in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini)

By Associated Press July 31, 2014 1 min read

GENEVA (AP) – The U.N.’s top human rights official is accusing Israel and Hamas militants of committing war crimes in the latest Gaza war.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says that by placing and firing rockets within heavily populated areas both sides are committing “a violation of international humanitarian law, therefore a war crime.”

Pillay also told reporters Thursday in Geneva that she sees “a recurrence of the very acts” from the 2009 Gaza war in which the U.N. concluded Israel deliberately targeted civilians and might have committed war crimes, along with Hamas.

Around 1,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 59 Israelis, mainly soldiers, have been killed in the latest violence.