Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday called a UN investigation accusing Israel of recklessness during the war in Gaza “outrageous” and said the Jewish state will not apologize for defending its citizens against Hamas missile attacks. He conceded that the Israeli military made some mistakes – as all armies do during war. Nonetheless, Peres said he thinks chances for Mideast peace “were improved” following his meeting in Washington on Tuesday with President Barack Obama. The UN inquiry focused on nine attacks on UN schools, a health clinic and the world body's Gaza headquarters and found that Israeli weapons were responsible for seven of them. It accused Israel of gross negligence and recklessness and said the UN should demand compensation and an acknowledgment from Israel that statements it made about several attacks were untrue. “We think it's outrageous. We shall never accept it. We don't think that we have to apologize because we have the right to defend the lives of our children and women,” Peres told reporters after meeting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to convey Israel's anger about the board of inquiry's findings. “We don't accept one word of what the board writes,” he said. “They were unfair. They were one-sided.” Israel launched a 22-day ground and air offensive in Gaza on Dec. 27 in an effort to halt years of Hamas rocket fire and arms smuggling into the Palestinian territory, which is controlled by the militant militant group. The offensive caused an estimated $2 billion in damage and killed nearly 1,300 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, Palestinian officials have said. At least 13 Israelis died. Peres claimed the UN inquiry went beyond its mandate of investigating the attacks on UN property and focused instead on “the whole situation in Gaza.” Israel would not have participated if it had known the scope, he said. “We're outraged because they didn't mention Hamas,” he said. “If Hamas didn't shoot, there wouldn't be a single problem.” Israel's military conducted their own investigation of the Gaza war and found no misconduct. Peres said the country didn't overstep in its use of white phosphorous, an incendiary substance whose utilizatiom was criticized by the inquiry.
