Head of UN Gaza violence probe resigns

US academic David Crane, head of a United Nations Human Rights council commission to investigate recent violence on the Gaza Strip border, has resigned for "personal reasons" less than a month after he was appointed, the council said today.

Vojislav Suc, Slovenian ambassador to the UN in Geneva and president of the council, has accepted the resignation and will have the task of appointing a new president of the commission, which also includes lawyers Sara Hossein from Bangladesh and Betty Murungi from Kenya, an official statement said.

Crane, an expert in international law who is currently a professor at Syracuse University, is also a former prosecutor at the international court in Sierra Leone.

He was appointed on July 25 to investigate the recent violence on the Gaza Strip border.

Protests and clashes began on the border on March 30 and have continued at varying levels since then.

At least 171 Gazans have been killed by Israeli fire during that time.