BREAKING NEWS

Israel agrees to cooperate with UN's new Gaza War probe

JERUSALEM - Israel said on Thursday it would cooperate with a United Nations investigation into Israeli attacks on UN facilities during last summer's Gaza war and the use of UN sites by Palestinian terrorists to store weapons.
Last week, Israel announced it would not cooperate with a separate UN Human Rights Council investigation into alleged war crimes committed during the July-August conflict, saying its findings were predetermined and accusing its chairman, Canadian academic William Schabas, of anti-Israeli bias.
Foreign ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson said that unlike that probe, the inquiry established by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was "an authentic investigation with potential for us to improve our performance in the course of conflict and learn from our mistakes."
During the war at least six UN-run facilities were hit by Israeli fire, killing at least two dozen people. Ban, in a statement on July 23, condemned the discovery of rockets at a UN-administered school.
Israel has cited terrorists' use of UN facilities to store rockets as a reason for targeting them. It says that in some cases UN institutions were hit by mistake or by Hamas projectiles.