Israeli force in Gaza is "excessive": U.N.'s Ban

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday condemned what he called Israel's "disproportionate and excessive" use of force in the Gaza Strip.

In an emergency meeting of the Security Council called to discuss an upsurge in Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Ban also condemned the relentless Palestinian rocket attacks against southern Israel.

Israeli forces killed 61 people in the Gaza Strip, making Saturday the bloodiest day for Palestinians since an uprising against Israeli occupation began in 2000. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting.

"While recognizing Israel's right to defend itself, I condemn the disproportionate and excessive use of force that has killed an injured so many civilians, including children," Ban told an emergency session of the council.

"I call on Israel to cease such attacks," he said.

Ban said there had been 26 Palestinian rocket attacks against Israel on Saturday alone.

"I condemn Palestinian rocket attacks and call for the immediate cessation of such acts of terrorism," he said.

The permanent Palestinian observer to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said Israel's actions, including the closure of all border crossings into Gaza, were war crimes.

"Such actions are clearly prohibited by international law and are being committed by the occupying power on a scale and scope amounting to war crimes," Mansour told the council.

Israel's Deputy Ambassador Daniel Carmon dismissed the idea that the Jewish state was guilty of war crimes.

He said the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June 2007, was to blame for the situation in Gaza because it was behind the rocket attacks.

"Hamas bears sole responsibility for the violence," Carmon told the council.

LIBYAN DRAFT RESOLUTION

The emergency council meeting was called by Security Council member Libya on behalf of the Arab League and at the request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Libyan delegation circulated a draft resolution to council members condemning Israel.

The draft, obtained by Reuters, has the council "expressing grave concern ... about the killings of innocent civilians, including the killing of several Palestinian children as a result of recent Israeli military attacks in the Gaza Strip."

It also calls for "an immediate cessation of all acts of violence, including military attacks" and urges Israel "to immediately open the Gaza Strip's border crossings."

The draft does not mention the months of daily Palestinian rocket fire against Israel, which the Israelis have cited as the reason they closed all the border crossings into Gaza in January, allowing only humanitarian aid into the territory.

Western diplomats said the Libyan resolution would not pass unless it was amended to condemn the Palestinian rocket attacks and dropped language suggesting Israel was guilty of terrorism.

Despite widespread concern for the humanitarian plight of Gazans, the council has been deadlocked on the closure of Gaza's borders because Libya and some other Arab states have been reluctant to condemn the rocket attacks against Israel and Hamas' seizure of power.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)