UNITED NATIONS, November 10 (Sputnik) – United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday announced the establishment of a board of inquiry into attacks on UN schools and facilities in the Gaza Strip during this summer's armed conflict between Israel and Gazan militants, a UN statement said.
The statement said that the UN chief "has established an internal and independent United Nations Headquarters Board of Inquiry into certain incidents that occurred in the Gaza Strip between July 8 and August 26, 2014."
Ban said that the Board of Inquiry "will be led by Mr. Patrick Cammaert (The Netherlands) and includes, as its other members, Ms. Maria Vicien-Milburn (Argentina), Ms. Lee O'Brien (USA), Mr. Pierre Lemelin (Canada) and Mr. K.C. Reddy (India). It will review and investigate a number of specific incidents, in which death or injuries occurred at, and/or damage was done to United Nations premises."
On November 4, UN's relief chief Pierre Krahenbult confirmed that his agency, UNRWA, had had "munitions fired at its schools, three of them with deadly consequences resulting in over 42 deaths and an estimated 200 persons with multiple injuries." Aid workers also discovered weapons components hidden in three of UNRWA schools.
The UN secretary general several times said he was going to set up a panel to investigate these issues. According to Krahenbuhl, the independent board of inquiry "will look at all major incidents that affected UN operations, notably those of UNRWA, during the crisis."
