The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] on Wednesday appointed [press release] a three-member legal panel to conduct a war crimes probe into the alleged Israeli human rights violations on the Gaza border.

The resolution to “urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry was backed on Friday. Twenty-nine members of the council voted for, 14 members abstained, and both the US and Australia voted against the resolution.

According to Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories S Michael Lynk [official profile], Israel’s use of force in the protests, which began on March 30, could be considered a “war crime.”

The panel, composed of legal experts David Michael Crane [JURIST op-eds] of the US, Sara Hossain of Bangladesh and Kaari Betty Murungi of Kenya, [profiles] is tasked with looking into all possible violations that could amount to war crimes, and identifying those responsible. The group of three is expected to update the UNHRC at its thirty-ninth session in September and to present its final report at the fortieth session in March.