UN's top human rights official voices 'extreme concern' over Israeli attack in Gaza

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday met with Israeli officials in Geneva to voice "extreme concern" over the deaths caused during an incursion in Gaza, and to call for a full investigation.

Presenting the Ambassador of Israel with a letter to Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, High Commissioner Sergio Vieira de Mello said the killing of at least 14 Palestinians, among them a number of children, was an "unacceptable loss of civilian life," the High Commissioner's spokesman, Jose Luis Diaz said

The letter noted that the incident apparently constituted violations of the Geneva Conventions and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Diaz said. Israel is a party to both treaties.

The High Commissioner asked the Israeli Government for assurances that the killings in Gaza would be fully, impartially and transparently investigated and that appropriate action would be taken against those responsible, the spokesman reported.