Israel’s "Operation Cast Lead" launched on the people of Gaza between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009 resulted in the killing of 1400 Palestinians – largely civilians. Israel’s military operations in Gaza were viewed with deep disdain by large parts of the international community and the UN appointed a Commission headed by an eminent jurist Judge Goldstone. The report of the commission uncovered instances of Israeli forces directly attacking civilians without military objective and are indistinguishable from war crimes, crimes against humanity, and breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. 

The Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF), through the World Council of Churches (WCC), has made the claim that if the recommendations of the Goldstone report were pursued, it would send a strong message to combatants in all conflicts that nations or groups cannot act with impunity, and that there must be appropriate channels of accountability for the perpetrators of crimes in any form of conflict. The general lack of accountability for war crimes and the culture of impunity in the whole Middle East region have prevented the peace process from reaching its aims and have paved the way for increasing all kinds of extremism and indiscriminate acts of violence.

Read more:

WCC calls for investigation of Gaza war crimes (18.11.09)

Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict