The United Nations Secretariat said Thursday that Israel was liable for the damage caused to U.N. facilities in the Gaza Strip during the 2014 war with Hamas, and demanded restitution.
No details were given as to the amount the U.N. was demanding as compensation.
The Secretariat maintains that schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees were damaged in Israeli strikes carried out during Operation Protective Edge.
Israel has presented ample evidence that U.N. and UNRWA facilities were used by Hamas to hide weapons and launch rockets at Israel. The Secretariat, however, has made no attempt to demand similar restitution from the terrorist group that controls Gaza.
"Israel will take any action necessary to defend its citizens and foil any threat posed to their safety and security," Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said Thursday.
"Instead of making demands of Israel, the U.N. should ask Hamas for compensation, for using its [U.N.] facilities to harm civilians," Danon said.
"It [the U.N.] should also investigate how time and again, a terrorist group, which uses Gazans as human shields, exploits these facilities for its own use," he said.
Following the 2014 conflict, then-U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon established a commission of inquiry to investigate incidents where U.N. facilities in Gaza were used by terrorists. The report attributed several attacks in which schools were hit by artillery fire and airstrikes to Israeli military operations.
