Desmond Tutu, a South African archbishop turned U.N. envoy, condemned Israel’s closure of the Gaza Strip.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner said during a visit to the scene Wednesday that the embargo on Gaza is a “siege” and a “gross violation of human rights.”
Tutu, who was named by the United Nations to investigate the killing of 19 Palestinians by errant Israeli artillery in 2006, also censured Palestinian terrorists who launch rockets across the Gaza border into Israel.
His team will file its findings on the Beit Hanoun shelling to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. Israel has long argued the council is biased against the Jewish state.
Israel has blamed the shelling on a sighting error by the artillery crews and expressed regret for the deaths.
Tutu, a leader of the battle against apartheid in South Africa, has raised hackles in Israel with occasional criticisms of its policies toward the Palestinians.
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