Israeli security forces may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity when they killed 189 Palestinians and wounded more than 6,100 people during weekly border protests in Gaza last year, U.N. investigators said Thursday. An independent panel, led by legal expert Santiago Canton, said it believes members of the Israeli security forces killed and gravely injured civilians who were “neither directly participating in hostilities nor posing an imminent threat.” Canton said: “Some of these violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity and must be immediately investigated by Israel.” Protests have been held at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip since last year, calling for the easing of an Israeli blockade. The report says: “The Israeli security forces killed and maimed Palestinian demonstrators who did not pose an imminent threat of death or serious injury to others when they were shot, nor were they directly participating in hostilities.” In a statement, acting Foreign Minister Israel Katz dismissed the report's conclusions as “absurd” and said they were “another hostile, mendacious, and slanted report against the State of Israel.”