All three members of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry tasked with investigating human rights violations in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories have resigned, citing the need for a “structural renewal of the body, according to a UN spokesperson on Monday.”
The commission, established in 2021, has faced intense criticism from Israel since its inception.
In her resignation letter, South African jurist Navi Pillay, 83, who previously presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, cited her age as a key factor in stepping down.
Fellow commissioners Chris Sidoti of Australia, 74, and Miloon Kothari of India, in his late sixties, also announced their departure, describing their service as an “honor” and calling the timing “appropriate” for a leadership transition.
In response, UN Human Rights Council President Jürg Lauber invited member states to submit nominations for new commissioners by August 31, with the aim of appointing replacements by early November, following the outgoing members’ final report to the UN General Assembly in New York.
The resignations come months after the commission issued a damning report in March, concluding that “Israel had committed acts of genocide against Palestinians across the occupied territories since October 7.”
During public hearings in Geneva, the commission presented evidence that the Israeli military deliberately targeted and destroyed healthcare facilities, including those specializing in reproductive care.
It also documented intentional attacks on medical infrastructure, asserting that the military operated with detailed maps of these sites.
The report further accused Israeli forces of physical and psychological abuse of Palestinian detainees, including degrading treatment and efforts to silence victims seeking justice.
It warned that newborns in Gaza face a high risk of death, whether in infancy or later in life, due to contaminated water, hunger, and exposure to cold.
The commission also leveled charges against Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in their treatment of hostages.
Israel, in turn, dismissed the commission as a biased and politicized mechanism of the Human Rights Council.
In a previous report issued four months ago, the commission reaffirmed that the legal definition of genocide applies to the situation in the Palestinian territories.
Pillay emphasized that statements exonerating Israeli leaders, coupled with the ineffectiveness of the military justice system, send a clear message to Israeli security forces that they can act with impunity.
The commission underscored the importance of accountability through the International Criminal Court and national jurisdictions, including the use of universal jurisdiction, as essential to upholding the rule of law and delivering justice to victims.
Reacting to the report, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the UN Human Rights Council as a “circus hostile to Israel”, accusing it of antisemitism and dismissing its findings as false and absurd.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed at least 58,386 Palestinians, including more than 17,131 children, 10,190 women, 4,147 elders, and 257 journalists. The number of wounded has reached 139,077, mostly children and women. Additionally, over 9,000 Palestinians remain missing, believed to be trapped under rubble across various areas of the devastated Gaza Strip.
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces have killed 1,013 Palestinians, including 204 children, 22 women, 17 elders, 1 journalist, and 27 individuals who were killed by illegal paramilitary colonizers. Among the total, 290 Palestinians were subjected to extra-judicial executions.
