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SvennoJ on 19 June 2024
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Palestinian ambassador comments on UN commission report

Ibrahim Khraishi, Palestinian ambassador to the UN, has given his comments to the UN commission of inquiry in Geneva. He thanked the commission for their investigation, which he noted Israel did not cooperate with.

He then went through a series of abuses he says Israeli forces have committed during their “genocidal war”, including using starvation as a weapon, intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals, and holding prisoners without charge.

He asked the commission “what measures can be taken” if such abuses continue unabated. The ambassador also reaffirmed “our position to refuse the targeting of civilians” in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.

UN commission report ‘compelling’, will influence Western capitals

Toby Cadman, a UK-based international human rights lawyer, says the UN commission of inquiry’s report documenting alleged war crimes in Gaza is “strong, compelling and very much expected”.

He said the report is unlikely to have an immediate effect on the conduct of Israel, which has so far been unphased by such reports, but could be used as evidence in future legal proceedings and give pause to Israel’s donor countries.

"We have seen a shift in policies in Western capitals,” Cadman told Al Jazeera. “This will be further evidence as to the intent and conduct of Israeli authorities. It will have to – and should – cause all capitals to consider the extent to which support is provided to Israel in the ongoing conflict.”

UN commission of inquiry ‘completely overlooked’ reality

Meirav Leshem Gonen, a mother of a 23-year-old woman being held captive by Hamas, has spoken at the UN session.

She said she spoke on the phone with her daughter while she was trying to escape from Hamas and heard her “helplessness and frustration without being able to help her”. “That was 257 days ago,” she said, adding that family members do not have adequate information about their health condition and status.

“The enforced disappearance of the hostages by Hamas constitutes cruel and inhuman treatment. Both to the hostages and to the family members, this reality was completely overlooked by the commission of inquiry,” Gonen said.

“Mr President, we should be on the same side – the side fighting hostage-taking, never accepting the use of young women as tools for trade. Please help me hug my daughter again.”



Denying commission access to Gaza ‘a major setback’ for Israel

Sultan Barakat, professor of public policy at Qatar’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, says that with Israel repeatedly denying the UN commission access to Gaza so it could investigate and obtain firsthand testimonies, it is “a major setback” for Israel.

The ICJ asked the commission on May 24 to report its findings, which will add to the growing evidence against Israel in the ICJ and the International Criminal Court (ICC), he said, adding that he suspects Israel will continue to accuse the international community of “following a systematic anti-Israeli discrimination position”.

“The fact today that they’ve allowed the mother of one of the hostages to speak instead of a diplomat is probably support that they do not really give any weight to the international community’s will and findings,” he said.

They will continue the way they’re working until they’ve achieved all their objectives.”


‘We have never seen anything like this’: UN Commission of Inquiry head

Discussing Israel’s war on Gaza, UN Commission of Inquiry head Navi Pillay says they “have never seen anything like this, to this extent.”

“Even the attack on UN is unprecedented. The number of victims, unprecedented. It’s never happened before,” she told Al Jazeera in Geneva following her briefing at the UN Human Rights Council session. “The figures are unbelievable.”

She added that the commission will be releasing further reports looking into other issues such as attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza and the war’s effect on the education of children.

The next reports will be delivered before the UN General Assembly in New York, she said.


Israel denying commission access to OPT and Israel ‘tragic’, Pillay says

Pillay says she thinks “it’s tragic” that Israel is preventing the commission from visiting victims inside Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, despite the the ICJ ordering that the UN commission be allowed access.

She told Al Jazeera the team has repeatedly requested access but that Israel has not responded.

“What I found particularly disturbing is they not only deny us access into Israel and Gaza, but the whole of Palestine; we need to talk to victims there as well,” Pillay said.

“There’s been some complaints that we’ve not investigated sexual violence fully on the part of Israeli soldiers and Palestinian women. Well, we need to get there to speak to the victims ourselves.”