Gaza City - The Hamas rulers of Gaza on Wednesday called for Israeli leaders to be put on trial after a UN report accused both the Jewish state and Palestinian militant groups of war crimes.
"The UN report constitutes irrefutable proof that the Zionist occupier committed crimes against humanity," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in a statement following the release of the report into Israel's war in Gaza at the turn of the year.
"After this explicit report, the international community should bring the leaders of the Zionist enemy as war criminals before the International Criminal Court," he said.
The UN report released late on Tuesday said evidence showed that both Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza committed war crimes and maybe crimes against humanity during their 22-day conflict.
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Israel launched the war in Gaza on December 27 in response to rocket fire from the territory.
Both sides have blasted the report for putting them on the same footing, with Israel saying it was defending itself against Gaza rocket fire and Hamas saying it was defending the territory against an occupying force.
"The report effectively ignores Israel's right of self-defence," said an Israeli foreign ministry statement late on Tuesday.
Said Barhum: "The resistance of the Palestinian people... is legitimate and guaranteed by international law and was waged in reaction to (the Israeli aggression)."
Ismail Haniya, the prime minister of the deposed Hamas government, said that "one cannot put into the same category the legitimate defence of a people under occupation and the occupying force." - Sapa-AFP
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