{"id":318973,"date":"2026-06-15T15:15:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&#038;p=318973"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:00:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:00:48","slug":"statement-by-coi-15jun26","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/statement-by-coi-15jun26\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza Faces Its \u201cMost Devastating Attack\u201d Since 1948 &#8211; Statement by the Chair of the Commission of Inquiry, to the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>15 June 2026<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-shortcode\"><iframe title=\"UN Inquiry Chair: Gaza Faces \u201cMost Devastating Attack\u201d Since 1948\" width=\"1320\" height=\"743\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2J9y0cZYEH4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Vice President. Excellencies. Good afternoon,<\/p>\n<p>I speak before this Council, while the most devastating attack against the Palestinian people since 1948 continues, after more than two and a half years now, with complete impunity.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/commission-of-inquiry-report-genocide-in-gaza-a-hrc-60-crp-3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Conference Room Paper<\/a> published in September 2025, the Commission found that the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces had committed and were continuing to commit genocidal acts with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinian group in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>These findings followed the issuing of three binding orders for provisional measures by the International Court of Justice, detailing the catastrophic conditions in Gaza and risks of irreparable prejudice to the rights of the Palestinian group.<\/p>\n<p>Excellencies<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/implementation-of-united-nations-security-council-resolution-2803-2025-report-of-the-board-of-peace-through-the-office-of-the-high-representative-for-gaza-s-2026-418\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report by the Board of Peace<\/a> to the Security Council in May this year pursuant to Security Council resolution <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/security-council-resolution-on-president-donald-j-trumps-comprehensive-plan-to-end-the-gaza-conflict-s-res-2803-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2803<\/a> claims that the conditions for Palestinians in Gaza have improved. Excellencies, this contradicts the findings of this Commission. The Israeli Prime Minister has been clear: Israel aims to seize at least 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, in clear violation of the ceasefire agreement and international law. The reality is that Palestinians continue to be killed and harmed in Gaza even after the ceasefire was announced in October last year and the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza remains very much below the necessary levels needed.<\/p>\n<p>The impact on children continues to be detrimental. A conference room paper will be made available on the web page of the Commission next week, focusing specifically on violations committed against children before and after the ceasefire.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the public and severe mistreatment of the flotilla activists detained by the Israeli forces disregard international law and support the findings of the Commission in previous reports that Palestinian detainees were severely mistreated, including tortured, raped and sexually abused, by the Israeli forces.<\/p>\n<p>Excellencies<\/p>\n<p>The report presented to you today focuses on killing and causing bodily and mental harm by non-State actors. These acts are committed against Palestinians by settlers in the occupied West Bank and against Palestinians and Israelis by Hamas in Gaza and armed groups and others in the West Bank.<\/p>\n<p>While their origins and motivations differ, these groups operate within environments engineered by Israel, including the continuing Israeli offensive in Gaza despite the October 2025 ceasefire. Hamas has exploited the vacuum resulting from relentless Israeli attacks and the destruction of Gaza, whereas violence by settlers is the direct result of Israeli policies that facilitate and support their actions.<\/p>\n<p>Excellencies<\/p>\n<p>Palestinian lives in the Occupied West Bank are more at risk than ever. From 1 January 2025 to 30 April 2026, Israeli settlers killed at least 15 Palestinians and injured at least 1,296 Palestinians. In 2025 at least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 Palestinians were injured. This marks a 130 per cent increase in killings and injuries over the year 2024. This trend continues in 2026 with attacks carried out on a daily basis, and at least eight Palestinian civilians killed by settlers just in the first four months of the year.<\/p>\n<p>When violence becomes so routine, and when it is met with almost complete impunity, it sends a devastating message: that Palestinian lives are worthless and meaningless, and that they can be taken, day after day, without consequence.<\/p>\n<p>This surge in settler attacks comes against a landmark advisory opinion of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/advisory-opinion-icj-19jul24\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">International Court of Justice in July 2024<\/a>, declaring that Israel\u2019s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful, and that Israel must immediately end the occupation, cease all new settlement activities and evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory.<\/p>\n<p>Settlers have increasingly resorted to sexual violence to instil fear and humiliate Palestinians in order to pressure communities and force them to leave their land. Since 2023, the Commission has verified the rape of a Palestinian man, and two cases of attempted rape. Meanwhile settlers have consistently intimated and harassed Palestinian women and girls, constraining their daily life.<\/p>\n<p>Violence against women and children contribute to the forcible displacement of Palestinian communities. The targeting of these groups constitutes an instrumental factor in pushing Palestinian families and communities to leave their homes.<\/p>\n<p>Excellencies<\/p>\n<p>Settler violence in the West Bank functions as a means of implementing Israeli State policies, with both the State and violent settler groups working in collaboration towards the same strategic objective: unlawful territorial expansion. This expansion, as previously pointed out by the Commission, takes the form of entrenchment and expansion of Israeli settlements, de facto annexation of Palestinian territory and forced displacement of Palestinians from their land.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the Israeli Security Forces are routinely involved in attacks; they accompany, protect, and participate in these attacks, reinforcing a pattern in which Israeli forces assist in perpetrating violence instead of protecting the occupied population from violence.<\/p>\n<p>Excellencies,<\/p>\n<p>Since it seized power in Gaza in 2007, Hamas has repeatedly exploited security vacuums and humanitarian crises resulting from Israeli attacks and escalations of hostilities, to target suspected collaborators and political opponents with extreme physical violence.<\/p>\n<p>In a surge of punitive violence since October 2023, the Commission identified 249 cases of executions and severe physical violence in 2024-2025, resulting in at least 108 deaths and 384 injured. The Commission found that Hamas-affiliated forces were involved in at least 60 of these incidents.<\/p>\n<p>Hamas also recorded and published the execution of alleged perpetrators as a form of public humiliation and to instil fear and deter opponents. Public punishments, particularly against perceived \u201ccollaborators\u201d, have long-lasting repercussions on the victims and their families, including shame and stigma.<\/p>\n<p>Palestinians are essentially trapped between the structural violence and mass atrocities of Israeli forces and settlers and the fear-based rule of Hamas, effectively becoming victims of all sides.<\/p>\n<p>Excellencies,<\/p>\n<p>The Government of Israel must immediately end the unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory, cease all new settlement activities and remove all settlers and settlements in compliance with the advisory opinion of July 2024 of the International Court of Justice. It must also take all possible preventive measures to protect Palestinians from settler violence and ensure accountability. Above all, Israel needs to remove all obstructions to the full exercise of the Palestinian people\u2019s right to self-determination.<\/p>\n<p>The de facto authorities in Gaza must immediately stop all extrajudicial punishments of civilians, including executions, torture, and mental, physical and sexual violence, and ensure accountability and reparation to victims and their families. The Government of the State of Palestine must also fulfil its obligations and investigate and prosecute crimes committed by armed groups in Gaza, to the extent possible.<\/p>\n<p>My final words are directed at the Member States of the United Nations, many of which are represented here today. All States must fulfil their obligations under international law. As provided by the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, States must not recognise as legal situations arising from the unlawful presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This means not to render aid or assistance that supports or maintains the occupation, including by ending arms transfers and the provision of direct and indirect financial support to settlements.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Related content:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/uncoi-press-release-23jun26\/\">Israel continues to commit genocide and other atrocity crimes by deliberately targeting Palestinian children \u2013 Question of Palestine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/commission-of-inquiry-report-genocide-in-gaza-a-hrc-60-crp-3\/\">Commission of Inquiry: Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have committed and are continuing to commit genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip \u2013 Conference room paper (A\/HRC\/60\/CRP.3) \u2013 Question of Palestine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/israel-has-committed-genocide-in-the-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds-16sep25\/\">Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission of Inquiry finds \u2013 Question of Palestine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/coi-report-23jun26\/\">\u201cThe essence of childhood has been destroyed\u201d: Israel\u2019s deliberate targeting of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 7 October 2023 &#8211; Report (A\/HRC\/62\/CRP.2) &#8211; Question of Palestine<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/un-human-rights-council-and-the-question-of-palestine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">To learn more about Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the Question of Palestine, click here to visit the dedicated webpage.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; 15 June 2026 &nbsp; Ms. Vice President. Excellencies. Good afternoon, I speak before this Council, while the most devastating attack against the Palestinian people since 1948 continues, after more than two and a half years now, with complete impunity. In a Conference Room Paper published in September 2025, the Commission found that the Israeli <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/statement-by-coi-15jun26\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2377,1338,2805],"document-source":[6815],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1829,2265,6883,1741,6866,6251],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-318973","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-multimedia","document-category-statement","document-category-video","document-source-commission-of-inquiry-on-the-occupied-palestinian-territory","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-ceasefire","document-subject-detainees","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-settler-violence","document-subject-west-bank","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/318973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/318973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319195,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/318973\/revisions\/319195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=318973"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=318973"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=318973"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=318973"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=318973"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=318973"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=318973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}