UN rights council to investigate crimes during Gaza conflict

we begin with breaking news out of

geneva the un human rights council has

just voted to launch an international

investigation

into violations during the 11-day

conflict between

israel and hamas in gaza human rights

chief michelle bachelet earlier said

israel's air strikes in densely

populated areas

could amount to war crimes let's speak

to kristin salumi who's at the united

nations for us so kristin take us

through how the approval

of this investigation came together in

the human rights council

well this special session of the human

rights council was called after

an unprecedented some have been saying

level

of international scrutiny and pressure

for action

in the wake of the most recent violence

in israel

uh during that session we did hear from

the human rights chief michelle bachelet

who called for an investigation saying

that

israel and hamas are both possibly

guilty of war crimes for indiscriminate

bombing in the case

of israel the indiscriminate and

disproportionate attack on civilians

would be an issue of concern she said

hamas's

indiscriminate rocket fire was also a

clear violation of rules of war

and so we had different uh speakers and

countries making the case israel

insisting that it was reacting as any

country would in self-defense to

indiscriminate attacks

but the council went ahead and voted and

with 24 states in favor nine against

and 14 abstentions to

launch this further investigation and

while

uh it has no power this body to punish

those that they find guilty it does mark

an unprecedented level of scrutiny for

israel in a situation uh

that it has found itself in in the past

the united states perhaps the united the

israel's greatest ally in the region

and in the united nations decried this

latest vote and said it seriously

regrets the decision by the human rights

council to move forward

um again no punishment or

uh outcome from a a guilty finding

would be possible from the council and

certainly nothing at the united nations

without the support of the united states

which is a veto wielding member of the

security council but

certainly a sign of the international

community's frustration and concern

at the cycle of violence in the region

all right thanks so much kristin salumi

let's talk now to yumna assad live in

gaza

maybe i can ask you i know you're

standing behind the rubble of that uh

press building the al jazeera building

and jalaptail but murray can start with

this latest line of approval

of this investigation any reaction out

of the people of gaza

yes indeed sammy i mean uh the people of

gaza

for sure have been calling out uh for

the international community to hold

israel accountable for the crimes that

it has committed here in the gaza strip

in in in considering the targeting of

civilians and densely populated area and

residential buildings

and also uh in in in a

commemoration ceremony that was just

held here

at this same location for journalists

with incorporation with human rights

centers

they called out the international

community to hold also israel

accountable

for targeting the media voices and media

offices in the gaza strip

so basically uh um what the people are

demanding is that israel is held

accountable

for its crimes against civilians in the

gaza strip

and for uh the blockade that it

has been imposing for more than 14 years

now on the gaza strip

so uh basically uh the people want the

international community to take

action and not just condemn uh

the israeli uh crimes as they call them

towards the civilians and towards the

gaza strip

all right thanks for that update jimna

say it

washington's relationship with ethiopia

its most important ally in the horn of

africa

is under strain it's now under the

spotlight on capitol hill

the senate foreign relations committee

held a hearing on the conflict in tigre

and america's response assistant

secretary of state for african affairs

and a usaid official gave testimonies

in western tigre security forces

belonging to the amhara regional

government are forcing

ethnic degradings from their homes in

what secretary blinken has described as

acts of ethnic cleansing

the eritrean defense force is

undertaking a campaign of unremitting

violence and destruction that amounts to

the collective punishment

of the people of tigre the violence

abuses

and atrocities are unacceptable they

must

stop now we've also heard devastating

reports of abuse by armed actors across

tigre

the reports not only speak to widespread

incidents of rape

and other gender-based violence have

systematic attempts to dismantle society

and destroy families some perpetrators

are targeting the wives of priests

abusing women in front of their families

or using a level of violence so brutal

that women are left with organ damage

the severity of abuse is among the

absolute worst i have seen in my nearly

two decades of humanitarian work

let's join alan fisher now he comes to

us from from capitol hill and then take

us

through some of those strong warnings we

we heard about

more action to come possibly

laid out in pretty strong terms there

and you have to remember that ethiopia

is regarded

as a very firm ally of the united states

in the horn of africa certainly over the

last few months

relationships have begun to deteriorate

joe biden in the last 24 hours

has called for an immediate ceasefire

anthony blinken the secretary of state

has said what is happening in degree

amounts to ethnic cleansing

but at the hearing that just ended less

than an hour ago

the state department wasn't quite ready

to go as far and say that war crimes

were being committed

into grey they say that that is a legal

definition that has to be met

with a number of things that have to

essentially boxes being ticked

and that the state department will make

that decision through anthony blinken

in the next week or so so that is one

thing that the us

can hold over ethiopia at the moment

then there is also the potential

of further economic sanctions and that

seems to be very much

where the u.s foreign relations

committee is heading as well as the

administration

there is a warning to ethiopia look if

you do not stop this

we are going to take economic sanctions

because we believe

that you are undermining the economic

viability of the horn of africa area

but not only that you're impacting in

the stability of the area

and that is against u.s strategic

interest there's the possibility

in the view of many on the senate

foreign relations committee that

some groups they would define as

terrorists could get a foothold

in the area and that could be a problem

and then you have the whole humanitarian

issue not just

all these sexual assaults that are going

on which have been outlined

in testimony but also the warning that

ethiopia is facing perhaps

its first famine in more than 40 years

simply because

no one can plant crops because of the

fighting that's ongoing

many millions of people have been

displaced so they're moving out of their

areas

and the aid agencies simply don't have

enough food to cope we're talking about

four million people in a population of

six million people

facing what is described as food

insecurity with two million of those

being children

so you can see why something which would

normally be considered a conflict in a

far-off place away from washington

is being considered by the senate

foreign relations committee

they want to see increased sanctions

they want transparent accountability for

what they see as human rights abuses

because they say if you don't take

action against it now there is always

the possibility

this will be repeated in the future now

joe biden is sending a special envoy to

the horn of africa

back to the region next week obviously

the administration will be hoping

that the strong words here in washington

will reflect

with a change of circumstances on the

ground in ethiopia and in tigre

particular

all right good stuff there from adam

fisher at capitol hill