Desmond Tutu to head UN mission to Beit Hanun

Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu has been named to head a United Nations fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun, where at least 18 civilians were killed earlier this month, UN officials said Wednesday. The South African anti-Apartheid campaigner and former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town will travel to the Palestinian territory to "assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors and make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli assaults," according to the president of the UN Human Rights Council, Luis Alfonso De Alba.