A senior United Nations (UN) official has called for its own United Nations investigation into the circumstances surrounding the explosion at a Gaza hospital on Tuesday (17).
“The UN will certainly want to do its own investigation, and that must be done very soon and very quickly,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told Christiane Amanpour of CNN.
See also — CNN shows situation in Gaza hospital after bombing
Hundreds of people died in the explosion at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in central Gaza City, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Authorities in Gaza blamed Israel, while the country said its intelligence indicated the cause was a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch. The armed group denied this.
The United States believes Israel is “not responsible” for the explosion, according to the National Security Council. A CNN could not independently confirm what caused the explosion or the number of victims.
Asked whether the evidence presented so far by Israel to support its claim meant the matter was resolved, Griffiths said: “This is not over for me, because I am not in the business of judging human rights abuses and atrocities of that kind.”
A UN investigation could allow important lessons to be learned, he added, “to prevent this from happening at the next hospital, the next school, the next institution where people are fleeing.”
Griffiths also highlighted that the United Nations stands ready to provide humanitarian aid and called for an end to airstrikes in areas where access was needed.
“International humanitarian law prohibits airstrikes on sites with civilian installations and civilian infrastructure. It is the security of the aid, which is as important as its reliability. We can do it, because we have the help, we have the people, we have the trucks and we certainly have the desire”, he pondered.
Source: CNN Brasil

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