U.N. Accuses Israel of Possible War Crimes in Gaza Hostage Rescue MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Tuesday that Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during their operation to rescue four hostages from Hamas in Gaza on Saturday.

OHCHR also said Hamas could be equally guilty of war crimes for holding hostages and deliberately putting civilians in harm’s way.

The U.N. human rights office said it was “profoundly shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli forces’ operation in An Nuseirat at the weekend to secure the release of four hostages.”

The statement condemned both the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas for causing so many casualties during the operation:

Hundreds of Palestinians, many of them civilians, were reportedly killed and injured. The manner in which the raid was conducted in such a densely populated area seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution – as set out under the laws of war – were respected by the Israeli forces.

Our Office is also deeply distressed that Palestinian armed groups continue to hold many hostages, most of them civilians, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law. Furthermore, by holding hostages in such densely populated areas, the armed groups doing so are putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk from the hostilities.

All these actions, by both parties, may amount to war crimes.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk restated his support for a “full and complete ceasefire,” including both “the release of hostages held by Palestinian armed groups” and “the exchange of Palestinian prisoners” by Israel.

OHCHR spokesman Jeremy Laurence said it was “catastrophic” that Palestinian civilians were “caught smack bang in the middle of this.”

“The fact that four hostages are now free is clearly very good news. These hostages should never have been taken in the first place. That’s a breach of international humanitarian law. They must be freed. All of them. Promptly,” he added.

Israel’s permanent mission to the U.N. in Geneva responded to this moral equivalence with outrage, accusing OHCHR of “slandering Israel” by saying it could be as guilty of human rights offenses as the terrorists of Hamas.

“The toll of this war on civilians is first and foremost the product of Hamas's deliberate strategy to maximize civilian harm,” the Israeli mission said.

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