Israel has called for the boycott of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s special session to address the recent flare-up in the Gaza Strip.
The Council announced an emergency session on May 27 to address “the grave human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”
The meeting is organized by Pakistan, the coordinator of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the State of Palestine.
So far at least 63 states, including 20 member states, have supported the meeting. However, the list is likely to grow taller as countries can sign up until the day of the emergency session.
Meanwhile, Meira Elion Shahar, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called on other nations to “strongly oppose the meeting” on Twitter, describing it “testament to the clear anti-Israel agenda” of the Council.
“The convening of yet another Special Session by the Human Rights Council targeting Israel is testament to the clear anti-Israeli agenda of this body,” Shahar tweeted. “The sponsors of this session are only rewarding the actions of Hamas, a terrorist organization, that has indiscriminately launched over 4000 rockets at Israeli civilians, using the people of Gaza as human shields.”
“I call on all member states of the Council to strongly oppose this meeting,” she continued.
The conflict, began last week as Israeli attempted to raze Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and continued by Tel Aviv’s crackdown on protests.
So far, at least 227 Palestinians, including 63 children, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes against civilian buildings and hospitals in Gaza.
Israel says it has targeted over 1,000 buildings inside Gaza that it claims were used by Hamas to fire unguided rockets at the Israeli side of the border.
Hamas and other Palestinian militias stand accused of killing at least 12 Israelis, including two children, with their retaliatory fire.
The two sides reached an agreement to cease hostilities on early Friday.
