JERUSALEM — Israel killed three Islamic Jihad commanders and 10 civilians in surprise airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, drawing threats of reprisals from the faction and censure from Egypt, which has mediated past ceasefires in the enclave.
Following the pre-dawn strikes that killed 13 people, including several children, a representative for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) defended the attacks by saying they adhered to the law of armed conflict.
The Israeli representative's comments came during a so-called Universal Periodic Review — a process all 193 UN countries must undergo every four years — where Israel saw its rights record harshly criticized.
Many of the nearly 90 countries that took the floor expressed alarm about escalating violence and condemned abuses against Palestinians.
Some, like the Palestinian representative, and those of Qatar and Namibia, demanded an end to Israel's "apartheid regime," while China's representative maintained the country was "plagued by racism and xenophobia."
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Meirav Eilon Shahar insisted that Israel did "not shy away from criticism," but reiterated her country's frequent complaint that it is subjected to "one-sided, ongoing discriminatory treatment" at the rights council.
Many of the diplomates who spoke up decried controversial judicial reform plans, as weeks of mass protests continue, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shelving the overhaul more than a month ago.
US Ambassador Michele Taylor called on Israel to "ensure the continued independence and impartiality of the judiciary."
Others, like New Zealand's ambassador Lucy Duncan, voiced particular concern "about proposed new legislation that would reinstate the death penalty in Israel."
Diplomats also decried Israel's settlement expansion policies, forced evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes, and demanded investigations of settler attacks on Palestinians.
"We recommend that Israel ... reverse its policy of settlement expansion," British ambassador Simon Manley told the council, while Canada's ambassador Leslie Norton demanded that Israel "thoroughly investigate and prosecute cases of extremist settler violence in the West Bank to ensure those who commit these crimes are held to account."
Israel defends its attack
An Israeli official told a UN meeting Tuesday that Israeli forces were justified in carrying out deadly strikes on Gaza, even as its overall human rights record met resounding criticism from dozens of countries.
"Today, following months of attacks against Israeli citizens, Israel began a campaign, Operation 'Shield and Arrow,' against Islamic Jihad military targets, which is conducted in accordance with the Law of Armed Conflict," Avishai Kaplan, with the IDF's International Law Department, told the UN Human Rights Council.
"Israel directs these attacks only against military targets and takes all feasible precautions to mitigate harm to civilians."
The Israeli army said that in its Gaza air strikes, it had targeted three leaders of Islamic Jihad, which it considers a terrorist group, as well as its "weapon manufacturing sites."
Eilon Shahar insisted to the UN that the strikes were aimed "to restore peace and security to the citizens of Israel."
The Gaza health ministry said four children were among those killed and 20 people were wounded, some of them in serious or critical condition, after the attacks which left buildings ablaze and reduced others to rubble.