Amanda Hernandez Celaya, 17, Arrested in Cuba on July 11, Acquitted

The family sent a message of gratitude to all those who reported on the young woman’s case. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 July 2021 — The young woman Amanda Hernández Celaya, arrested on July 11 in the heat of the protests that shook the country, was acquitted this Thursday for lack of evidence after a summary trial was carried out in Havana, as confirmed to 14ymedio by members of her family.

Hernández was charged with the same offense as the other participants in the protests, “public disorder.” The teenager had been released during the night of July 20, under a precautionary measure of house arrest, after spending ten days in prison at the 100th y Aldabó station, unable to communicate with her family or receive visitors.

The family sent a message of gratitude to all who denounced the case of the young woman, who is completing her last year of high school in Havana and is also training to be a dancer.

Heissy Celaya Pérez, Hernández’s mother, learned of her daughter’s arrest through the young woman’s own voice, as she managed to make a call at the time of the arrest. After that communication, during which Hernández was crying, her mother did not hear from her for more than 24 hours.

The following day the mother managed to reach the fourth station in Havana’s Cerro municipality, at Infanta and Manglar, where she learned that her daughter had been transferred to 100th y Aldabó. Most of the calls for support were made by the mother through social networks and international organizations.

Among those arrested in the July 11 protests, many were teenagers, including reports of the arrests of minors.

The activist Salomé García Bacallao compiled a list with at least nine detained minors. In addition to Hernández Celaya, they included Brandon David Becerra (17 years old), Giancarlos Álvarez Arriete (17), Glenda de la Caridad Marrero Cartaya (15), Jonathan Pérez Ramos (16), Katherin Acosta (17), Leosvani Giménez Guzmán (15), Luis Manuel Díaz (16) and Yanquier Sardiña Franco (16).

The trials of participants in the massive protests continue. The actor Carlos Alejandro Rodriguez Halley denounced on his Facebook account that his friend, the artist Alexander Diego Gil, “has just been sentenced to ten months of deprivation of liberty in a circus trial.”

The young man also raised several questions: “What should we do at this time? Should we remain silent? Should we expect something from the artists who are silent? Should we settle for injustice? Should we endure a dictatorship that clings to power without it mattering to them that a whole country has risen up demanding that they withdraw from power? (…) What is going to happen to all the relatives of all the victims of the Cuban dictatorship today? When will real justice be done? ”

Gil’s arrest was also denounced by filmmaker Carlos Lechuga: “This boy is a good man. An artist with a special sensitivity. (…) Immediate freedom for Alexander. For his health, the health of his mother and the country “.

Lechuga also took advantage of his letter to request “immediate freedom for all 11J [11 July] prisoners and political prisoners.”

Twelve days after the first protests, the government has not provided a number of those injured and detained. The legal organization Cubalex documents to date a total of more than 600 people, all victims of repression and among whom are both the detained and disappeared.

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ROARING TWENTIES 2.0
Bitcoin: The great wealth transfer might be coming sooner than expected

By Anjali Jain
on July 23, 2021
 

Source: Pixabay

The latest Bitcoin bull run pushed crypto to the fringes of mainstream investing, at the very least. The exponential price surge, coupled with mounting institutional interest, was reflective of the general perception that digital assets are a valuable addition to investment portfolios. Moreover, it is not just big-ticket investors but even comparatively smaller portfolio holders that are looking into Bitcoin investments and the interest is only growing by the minute.

Source: Coinstats

A new study by Washington-based analytics firm Gallup revealed that Bitcoin investments by American adults having more than $10,000 in traditional investment vehicles tripled over the last three years. It went from a 2% to 6% portfolio allocation, a finding which suggested that Bitcoin is slowly reaching general acceptance and entering the maintenance market.

The second-quarter Gallup Investor Optimism Index survey further revealed that young adult investors are more likely to indulge in Bitcoin investments. It was also found that 13% of those between 18 and 49 owned Bitcoin, compared to just 3% in 2018.

However, it has been harder for BTC to make inlands with older investors as only 3% of those above 50 own the digital asset. The number has, however, tripled from 3 years back when it was a mere 1%. Even so, this figure is indicative of the general hesitancy that veteran investors have about cryptocurrencies.

There is also a visible gender disparity between investors as it was found that out of those surveyed, male BTC investors amounted to 11% while only 3% are female. This, alas, is in line with the general consensus from previous reports about female investors lagging behind. That being said, some reversal was being seen of late, with the same underlined by data from trading websites like eToro and Robinhood.

Overall, the critical tide for crypto seemed to be turning as those who believed they would never be interested in buying crypto dropped from 72% to 58% between 2018 and 2021. Similarly, the risk perception associated with crypto too declined considerably over the same time even as it was still viewed with suspicion by most.

In any case, the proportion of surveyed investors calling it “very dangerous” declined from 75% to 60%, even as 35% thought it is “considerably dangerous” and only 5% viewed it as carrying no dangers.

The aforementioned report concluded by stating,

“Large investments in bitcoin by well-known companies such as Tesla, Square, and Morgan Stanley may be giving it more mainstream credibility.”

Nevertheless, the disparity between younger and older investors is not surprising. Millennials are known to be the most enthusiastic about crypto as they are at a point in life where they can take risks and are more embracing of new technology. Moreover, the 2008 financial crisis was an eye-opener for many of them, and they are still struggling to retain their trust in the current financial and banking systems.

The Gallup report’s findings have given impetus to the belief that the greatest generational wealth transfer in which millennials are set to inherit $68 trillion from older generations will be beneficial for Bitcoin. It is considered unlikely that gold, which has already fallen in popularity, and other stocks and investments will receive the bulk of this wealth as more millennials and Gen Z shift towards unconventional banking.

In fact, it was found in a recent CNBC survey that half of the surveyed millennial millionaires had invested at least 25% of their wealth into cryptocurrencies, while over a third of them had over 50% investments in crypto. Other surveys have also found that millennials are more likely to trust their dentist than banks and Wall Street.

As more millennials transfer their wealth from traditional banking to crypto, this impending wealth transfer might just be one of the biggest revolutions that financial history has ever seen as it will see wealth change hands not just across generations but through financial institutions and systems altogether.

Kaseya Offers Customers Decryption Key for Massive Ransomware Attack

The remote management software company will not disclose the source of the decryption key, but at least one company has confirmed that it works.

Getty Images

Robert Lemos | Jul 23, 2021

Remote management software firm Kaseya announced on July 22 that the company has obtained a universal decryption key for the ransomware that affected 50 to 60 managed service providers and more than 1,000 of those MSPs' downstream customers.

The Florida-based company confirmed that the decryption key — which Kaseya referred to as a software "tool" — successfully recovered systems encrypted by the ransomware. Kaseya is working with a third party, Emisoft, to reach out to affected customers and their clients and unlock any encrypted data.

So far, the tool has been used successfully without issues, Kaseya stated in a blog post.

"We can confirm that Kaseya obtained the tool from a third party and have teams actively helping customers affected by the ransomware to restore their environments, with no reports of any problem or issues associated with the decryptor," the company said.

The availability of the decryption tool marks the beginning of the end of an attack that affected more than a thousand companies, highlighted software supply chain weaknesses, and demonstrated the critical role that managed service providers play in defending companies against attacks.

On July 2, cybercriminals associated with the Russia-linked REvil group used a trio of vulnerabilities in Kaseya's Virtual System Administrator (VSA) servers to compromise organizations — many of them managed service providers (MSPs) — that had deployed the software as Internet-connected on-premises servers. Using the servers, the attackers then installed ransomware on the clients managed by the VSA systems, often infecting hundreds or thousands of endpoints at the affected MSPs' business clients.

While companies have worked for more than three weeks recovering from the July attack, the decryptor will aid in recovering data that had not been backed up before the attack, a worker at one MSP stated on condition of anonymity as the company had to sign a nondisclosure agreement with Kaseya to get access to the decryption tool.

"At this point, our clients are mostly recovered or fully recovered and in working order, and we have restored backups," the worker stated. "There may be some cases where there were documents not saved to a shared folder we are backing up and we are looking into that. In those situations, the decryptor will be helpful."

Kaseya would not say how it "obtained" the decryption tool and declined to say if it paid a ransom. "We can’t share any details about how and from whom we obtained the decryptor," Kaseya spokeswoman Dana Liedholm said in a response to Dark Reading.

The most likely explanation is that someone paid part of the ransom, whether Kaseya, a group of victims, or the government. Alternatively, the decryption key could have been seized in an offensive cyber operation or somehow discovered by security researchers.

The development comes after the REvil group's sites disappeared from the Internet on July 13. Several of the group's sites on the Dark Web have become unreachable as well. The cause of the outage is unclear, but came after US President Joe Biden put pressure on Russia President Vladimir Putin to investigate the criminal group, which is thought to operate from that country. Biden had also maintained that the United States could attack servers hosting ransomware groups.

The Kaseya breach could have been much worse. While about 2,200 on-premises servers appeared to be vulnerable to the exploit chain used by attackers, only 50 to 60 servers — most at managed service providers — were targeted in the attack. The Ransomware Task Force, an industry and policy group created in December 2020, considers the use of MSPs to amplify a ransomware attack to be a worst-case scenario.

While Kaseya did take steps once the company learned of the attack, after it triggered simultaneously across all compromised VSA servers at 12:30 p.m. ET, attackers had already compromised vulnerable systems, John Hammond, senior security researcher at Huntress Labs, stated in a blog post earlier this week.

"By the time VSA customers shut down their servers, any exploitation would have already been complete, and attacks would have happened as planned," he wrote. "Anecdotally, we have received reports of some customers finding remnants of the malicious stored procedures when bringing VSA servers back online; however, any order to shut down after [the triggering time of] 12:30 ET would not have minimized the number of compromised MSPs."

If Kaseya paid a ransom to gain access to the decryptor, the company will be failing to heed increasingly strident advice for companies to forgo dealing with cybercriminals, which funds their operations and attracts more ransomware activity. In May, oil and gas transport network Colonial Pipeline paid attackers $4.4 million to help it recover its systems, which had shut down its pipeline for over a week.

 

RE2 Robotics Sapien 6M arm designed

 for outdoor applications

By Steve Crowe | July 21, 2021

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RE2 Robotics is marking its 20th year in business with the launch of its newest robotic arm, the RE2 Sapien 6M. The milestone marks two successful decades of innovation and growth for the company in the robotics industry.

The RE2 Sapien 6M robotic arm is currently being used in several active robotics initiatives by commercial and defense customers who require a mobile outdoor-rated arm able to perform complex tasks. Specific applications include aviation maintenance, solar field construction, and aerial work across multiple industries.

The 6M robotic arm includes embedded intelligence, integrated arm control, a maximum payload of 50 kg, and a design that can withstand extreme temperatures and environmental conditions. The arm has six degrees of freedom, including continuous wrist and elbow roll joints, which enable precise manipulation and placement of objects.

RE2 Robotics Sapien 6M robotic arm.

Compatible with RE2 Detect and RE2 Intellect, the RE2 Sapien 6M enables autonomous mobile manipulation in both structured and unstructured environments. For applications that still require human intellect to perform a complicated task, the RE2 Sapien 6M arm can be tele-operated with the RE2 Imitative Controller.

“Our goal is to develop human-like robotic arm solutions that improve operational efficiencies, worker safety, and overall productivity for our customers. The RE2 Sapien 6M robotic arm is a leap-ahead technology that will support our customers’ complex applications across multiple markets,” said RE2 Robotics founder Jorgen Pedersen.

“It is exciting to see how RE2’s technology has evolved from unmanned ground vehicles and teleoperation to the creation of truly intelligent mobile manipulation systems, such as the RE2 Sapien 6M,” said Keith Gunnett, chief technology officer and one of RE2’s original employees. “While there are still applications that require direct teleoperation, our talented engineering teams are developing supervised autonomous systems that are powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence.”

RE2 was founded on July 20, 2001 as a defense subcontractor. Since its founding, RE2 has shipped more than 650 robotic arms to customers worldwide and received $3.75 million in investment. To date, the company has created robotic systems for more than 100 customers and received more than $75 million in funding from the Department of Defense.

“We have come a long way since our days as an engineering services lifestyle company,” said Pedersen. “I look forward to seeing what the next decade brings for the amazing team at RE2 Robotics.”

Pedersen and Travis Schneider, business development manager of RE2 Robotics, recently joined The Robot Report Podcast to discuss the evolution of the company. RE2 was focused nearly 100% on defense work in 2016, but now the defense sector accounts for less than one-third of its business. We also discussed RE2 Robotics’ new Sapien line of intelligent robotic arms. The arms, which were originally engineered for the rugged requirements of the U.S. military, can operate in both structured and unstructured environments. You can listen to that podcast below.

IT'S ALL GOOGLE

Alphabet spins out Intrinsic to simplify use of industrial robots

By Steve Crowe | July 23, 2021

Intrinsic’s motion planning software orchestrates four industrial robots to build wooden pods for an architecture project. | Photo Credit: Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich

Google parent company Alphabet announced its newest venture today. Intrinsic is a robotics software company that launched out of the X moonshot division of Alphabet. Details about Intrinsic’s software were scarce at press time, but the company said it is developing software tools designed to make industrial robots “easier to use, less costly and more flexible, so that more people can use them to make new products, businesses and services.”

Demand for industrial robots has surged over the past year as businesses scrambled to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Q1 2021, for example, industrial robot orders increased 19.6% across North America, according to the Association for Advancing Automation. Programming and re-programming robots for new tasks, however, still remains a major obstacle for many companies, and this is what Intrinsic is hoping to tackle.

Intrinsic said it has been exploring how automated perception, deep learning, reinforcement learning, motion planning, force control, and simulation can be combined to make industrial robots more useful and flexible. It said early tests showed it’s possible for an industrial robot to learn how to perform dexterous tasks and to apply what it has learned from one task to another similar task.

In one “real-world test,” Intrinsic worked with ETH Zurich to assemble wooden pods for an architectural project. They have four ceiling-mounted industrial robots at their Robotic Fabrication Lab to help with the assembly, which involves bringing sets of four panels together at the same time to be glued and cured. This complex task raised the challenge of coordinating the motion of all four robots simultaneously.

Intrinsic is led by CEO Wendy Tan-White. She is a veteran entrepreneur and investor who has served as VP of X since 2019,

“The surprisingly manual and bespoke process of teaching robots how to do things, which hasn’t changed much over the last few decades, is currently a cap on their potential to help more businesses,” Tan-White wrote in a blog introducing Intrinsic. “Specialist programmers can spend hundreds of hours hard coding robots to perform specific jobs, like welding two pieces of metal, or gluing together an electronics case. And many dexterous and delicate tasks, like inserting plugs or moving cords, remain unfeasible for robots because they lack the sensors or software needed to understand their physical surroundings.”

Tan-White said her team trained a robot in two hours to complete a USB connection task that would take hundreds of hours to program. The software also allowed two KUKA robots to assemble a simple piece of furniture.

“None of this is realistic or affordable to automate today – and there are millions of other examples like this in businesses around the world. This all hints at the potential for Intrinsic’s software to radically reduce the time, cost, and complexity required to use industrial robots – and therefore their long-term potential to help with a much wider range of problems and drive up the diversity of goods that can be produced affordably and sustainably.”

As a software-focused company, Intrinsic appears to play into one of Google’s many strengths. Google previously had a major focus on robotics, but primarily on the hardware side of things. Back in 2013, Google went on a robotics shopping spree, acquiring seven companies in about six months. Those companies included Boston Dynamics, Bot & Dolly, Industrial Perception, Meka Robotics, Redwood Robotics and Schaft.




Google eventually shut down most of these companies or sold them off. Boston Dynamics, for example, was sold to Softbank in June 2017. Softbank has since flipped that acquisition, selling the maker of the Spot quadruped to Hyundai Motor Group for nearly $1 billion.

Alphabet is also the parent company of Waymo, the world’s leading company developing autonomous vehicles.

Intrinsic isn’t doing press interviews at this time, so we’ll have to wait a bit to learn more specifics about its work. But ease of use has long been a challenge for the robotics industry. 

And it was the focus of a recent episode of The Robot Report Podcast

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Crowe
Steve Crowe is Editorial Director, Robotics, WTWH Media, and co-chair of the Robotics Summit & Expo. He joined WTWH Media in January 2018 after spending four-plus years as Managing Editor of Robotics Trends Media. He can be reached at scrowe@wtwhmedia.com

41 percent of consumers say their next car will be electric

EY surveyed 9,000 people in 11 countries for its Mobility Consumer Index.

JONATHAN M. GITLIN - 7/20/2021

Enlarge / The biggest impediment to EV adoption appears to be cost of ownership, according to EY's 2021 Mobility Consumer Index.
Carlos Sanchez Pereyra/Getty Images

Electric vehicles are increasingly breaking into the mainstream. According to a new survey conducted by EY, 41 percent of consumers planning to buy a car say their next vehicle will be a plug-in. And they're mainly making that decision because of the environmental impact.

EY surveyed 9,000 consumers across 13 countries (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, the UK, and the US) in June of this year as part of its Mobility Consumer Index. The last time the firm conducted this survey, in September 2020, just 30 percent said their next car would be either a battery EV or plug-in hybrid EV.

Where do BEVs beat ICE?

EV adoption is moving faster in some places than others. In China, for example, 48 percent say their next car will be an EV, and only 43 percent say it will have an internal combustion engine (with 3 percent looking for a hydrogen fuel cell EV and the remaining 5 percent saying they are unsure). Sweden's numbers are near-identical, with a matching 48 percent wanting an EV.Advertisement

In South Korea, 51 percent indicate that an EV will be their next vehicle. In Singapore, 53 percent want an EV, and in Italy, a whopping 63 percent said their next vehicle would be a plug-in.

But in the other countries that EY surveyed, the internal combustion engine remains the most popular choice. In Australia, only 17 percent would buy an EV, versus 75 percent of Australians who want another carbon-burning car. There is little similarity between the US car market and India's, but in both cases, only 28 percent of consumers say they want an EV next. In New Zealand, 30 percent indicated an EV was in the cards. In Canada, 35 percent said the same, and in Germany, 38 percent plan to go electric. In the UK, 40 percent want a plug-in, and in Japan, 42 percent do.

In each country, the environment was the primary reason for wanting to electrify, and the major concern was the cost of ownership, not charging infrastructure. The good news is that time and again, research shows that EVs are cheaper to maintain and have a lower total cost of ownership than gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles.

 

EV SHORTCOMINGS

GM issues another Chevy Bolt recall over defect that increases risk of vehicle fires

Owners are advised to take precautions until replacement parts are ready

Sarah D. Young

Reporter and Editor

Photo (c) felixmizioznikov - Getty Images

General Motors (GM) issued another recall for its 2017-2019 Chevrolet Bolt EVs on Friday. The automaker said at least two more of the vehicles caught fire, despite having previously gotten a software fix for the battery defect identified in recent months. 

The company said it has identified a second “rare manufacturing defect” in the vehicles that increases the vehicles’ risk of catching fire. Although officials didn’t say exactly what the defects are, it said the problem stems from the cells that make up the Bolt’s battery pack. 

About 69,000 of the vehicles are affected globally, and nearly 51,000 of those cars are in the U.S.

GM is still preparing the recall. In the meantime, owners are being advised to take precautions until the company is able to complete the new recall fix. Those precautions include not charging the vehicle to more than 90% or letting it drop below 70 miles (or about 27%). Owners are also advised to charge their vehicle after each use. 

Free replacement parts coming

As it did in the previous recall, GM said owners shouldn’t park their vehicles inside or near their homes. Owners also shouldn’t leave their vehicle charging overnight. Company officials said the automaker will be replacing defective battery modules in the vehicles at no cost and that customers will be notified when replacement parts are ready. 

“We’re working with our supplier and manufacturing teams to determine how to best expedite battery capacity for module replacement under the recall,” said GM spokesman Dan Flores. “These teams are working around the clock on this issue.”

More information is available on the company's recall website. Owners with questions can also contact their preferred Chevrolet EV dealer or GM’s EV helpline at 1-833-EVCHEVY.

#BEN&JERRYS #BDS

NY State Comptroller Warns Unilever That Pension Fund Investments at Risk Over Ben & Jerry’s West Bank Boycott

by Algemeiner Staff
EXCLUSIVE

GLOBALIZATION 
A woman stands behind a machine that is part of a toothpaste manufacturing line at the Unilever factory in Lagos, Nigeria January 18, 2018. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

The New York state comptroller’s office has warned Unilever that Ben & Jerry’s’ West Bank sales boycott could threaten state pension fund investments in the UK-based multinational, according to a letter seen by The Algemeiner.

The letter — sent Friday to Unilever CEO Alan Jope, by the office’s executive director of corporate governance — said that State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is “troubled and concerned” over reports that Ben & Jerry’s, a subsidiary of Unilever, is involved in “BDS activities,” referring to efforts to boycott Israel.

New York’s Common Retirement Fund is the third-largest public pension fund in the US, serving over a million members, retirees, and beneficiaries. The letter warned Unilever that the state office views BDS activity as a “potential threat to Israel, its economy, and, as a result, the Fund’s relevant investments,” and noted that companies boycotting Israel are exposed to legal, reputational and financial risks.

“If the company fails to respond or fails to demonstrate that it has not engaged in BDS activities, the Fund’s investment in Unilever will be subject to a detailed review and staff recommendation, which may include investment restrictions,” it said.

On Monday, Unilever subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s announced it would not renew its license agreement with its current Israeli partner, saying that it was “inconsistent” with its values to sell products in “the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Friday’s letter came as officials in several US states have sought to pressure both Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever, whose US operations are based in New Jersey, to reverse the decision.

Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday asked the state’s Board of Administration to add the companies to a list of companies engaged in Israel boycotts.

“It has come to my attention that Ben and Jerry’s has announced plans to remove its products and prohibit the sale of its ice cream in Judea and Samaria,” DeSantis wrote.

“Should the State Board of Administration affirmatively place Unilever and its corporate entities on the Scrutinized Companies List and these companies do not cease the boycott of Israel as required by Florida Law, the Board must refrain from acquiring any and all Unilever assets consistent with the law.”

35 US states have laws opposing the BDS movement, and Israeli officials have pledged to call on officials in relevant jurisdictions to pressure Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s over the boycott.

Russia excludes senior Communist candidate from parliamentary vote

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian electoral authorities on Saturday barred a well-known Communist Party candidate from running in September's parliamentary election, the latest high-profile opposition figure to be disqualified from the vote.

© Reuters/TATYANA MAKEYEVA FILE PHOTO: Presidential candidate Pavel Grudinin attends a news conference after the end of the voting in the presidential election, in Moscow

Pavel Grudinin, who won 12% of votes when he challenged Vladimir Putin in a 2018 presidential election, was excluded from a candidate list because the Prosecutor's Office had found he held shares in a foreign company, news agencies reported.

Grudinin, a wealthy farm boss, denied having any foreign assets and linked his disqualification by the central election commission to the potential for opposition parties to post a strong result in September, Interfax reported.

A recent opinion poll showed the Communists and other opposition parties could pose a threat to the dominance of Putin's United Russia party in the State Duma, Russia's lower house, in the upcoming election.


"The (Communist) Party is an opposition party," Grudinin was quoted as saying by Interfax. "Someone is afraid of the big effect that a union of left-wing forces could have."

The party's leader, Gennady Zyuganov, vowed to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court, the TASS agency reported.

A poll by the independent Levada Centre in March found that while 27% of Russians would vote for United Russia, 10% would back the Communists and a further 12% planned to support the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR).

Saturday's decision follows the disqualification of several opposition figures, mainly affiliated with jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

A court ruling this month outlawed groups linked to Navalny as "extremist", and a new law prevents heads or members of such groups from running for the lower house of parliament or taking part in other elections for periods of three to five years.

(Writing by Polina Ivanova; Editing by Helen Popper)

Palestine Welcomes Decision To Investigate Israeli Violations

Young man waves a Palestinian flag in front of the territories occupied by Israeli forces. 

| Photo: Twitter/ @GR_Party

Published 23 July 2021 
by teleSUR/ Peter Bolton
Newsletter

An independent commission will look into Israeli violations of humanitarian and international human rights law in the Palestinian territories since April 13.

On Thursday, Palestine welcomed a decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNCHR) to form an independent international commission to investigate Israeli violations of Palestinian rights.

RELATED:
Ben & Jerry's To Stop Sales in Israeli Settlements

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the council's decision "reflects the international community's persistence to implement international law and protect Palestinian human rights," said the Palestinian Foreign Affairs Ministry.

"Forming the commission came in implementation of Palestine's decision in the council during its special session number 30," it recalled, adding that the commission will look into Israeli violations of humanitarian and international human rights law in the Palestinian territories since April 13.

The UNCHR President Nazhat Shameem Khan announced the appointment of Navi Pillay, Miloon Kothari, and Chris Sidoti as the three members of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (CIOPT).

Pillay, a South African who was the former chief of the UNCHR, will serve as the chair of the new three-person commission, which was also tasked with investigating "all underlying root cause of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict."

In April, tensions escalated in East Jerusalem and then spread to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip following an Israeli court's verdict to evict families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in the city. On May 10, Israel waged a large-scale aerial offensive on the Gaza Strip after militants led by the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, launched a barrage of rockets at Israel.

The offensive ended after 11 days of fighting when Egypt brokered a ceasefire deal between the two sides. Over 250 Palestinians were killed, with widespread destruction of buildings and infrastructure in Gaza.