Reports: Members of UN Palestine Inquiry Step Down

By Staff, Agencies

All members of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories have submitted their resignations, according to reports.

The decision reportedly comes after months of sustained pressure and obstruction by "Israel", raising serious concerns over the integrity of international accountability mechanisms.

According to reports, the resignations followed a period of intensified "Israeli" campaigns aimed at undermining the commission's work, which ultimately rendered their continued role untenable. The UN is yet to confirm the resignations, though.

The commissioners had been appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 to investigate human rights violations in occupied Palestine and “Israel.”

"Israeli" officials repeatedly accused the commission of antisemitism, refused to cooperate, and mounted diplomatic efforts to delegitimize the body’s work. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously dismissed the inquiry as “anti-'Israel'".

The commission’s reports concluded there were “reasonable grounds” to conclude "Israeli" forces committed war crimes in Gaza, including direct attacks on civilians, willful killings, use of starvation as a weapon, sexual violence, and forced displacement—some of which may indicate genocidal intent.

The findings also noted patterns of settler violence, demolition of infrastructure, and suppression of civil society in the West Bank.

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric had recently admitted that “the United Nations has failed to protect the Palestinian people.”

Speaking from New York, Dujarric added: “The Secretary-General and all remaining UN humanitarian staff in Gaza are doing everything they can to help civilians survive, at the very least, by providing them with what limited resources we have.”