UN report accuses Israel of unprecedented human rights violations

27/2/2025 6:17

The UN Human Rights Chief

accused Israel on Wednesday of showing an unprecedented

disregard for human rights in its military actions in Gaza and

said Hamas had violated international law.



"Nothing justifies the appalling manner in which Israel has

conducted its military operations in Gaza which consistently

breached international law", said Volker Turk, while presenting

a new report on the human rights situation in Gaza, the

Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to the Human

Rights Council in Geneva.



The report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for

Human Rights (OHCHR) also accused Hamas of grave violations

since October 7.



"Hamas has indiscriminately fired projectiles into Israeli

territory - amounting to war crimes", Turk said.



Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and captured more

than 250 hostages in an attack on southern Israel on October 7,

2023, according to Israeli tallies. An Israeli retaliatory

assault laid waste to most of Gaza and killed more than 48,000

Palestinians, according to the enclave's health officials.



Israel did not send a delegate to take to the floor to share

their comments, which the representative of Chile said was

regretful.



Israel previously strongly denied allegations of war crimes

and breaches of international law in Gaza and the occupied West

Bank, saying that its operations targeted Hamas militants and

aimed to reduce civilian harm.



"The level of devastation in Gaza is massive - from homes,

to hospitals to schools", Turk said, adding that "restrictions

imposed by Israel ... have created a humanitarian catastrophe",

Turk told the Council.



Turk told the 58th Council that the report highlighted grave

concerns that Hamas "may have committed other breaches of

humanitarian law in Gaza, including the intentional co-location

of military objectives and Palestinian civilians."



He called for all violations to be investigated

independently. However, he raised doubts about the will of the

Israeli justice system to deliver full accountability - in line

with international standards, and said he was unaware of any

measures taken by Hamas and other groups to punish those

responsible for rights breaches.



The OHCHR report said it had not received a response from

Israel to its request for full access to Israel and the Occupied

Palestinian Territory to investigate violations by all parties.



The Palestinian representative at the Council accused Israel

of committing war crimes and genocide against Palestinians, as

well as denying aid to the enclave. Israel has repeatedly denied

such accusations.



"Tents have been denied together with model homes. It has

impeded access of food and medicines", the Palestinian

ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi told the

council.



He also strongly denounced settler violence and Israeli

military operations in the West Bank, mentioned in the report.

At least 40,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Jenin and

the nearby city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank since

Israel began its operation last month after reaching a ceasefire

agreement in Gaza after 15 months of war.



"The litany of unspeakable horrors perpetrated against the

Palestinians is unprecedented", said Frankye Bronwen Levy, the

representative for South Africa.



The European Union supported the report's call for an

independent investigation, condemned Hamas' attack, as well as

Israeli escalation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.



Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq

reiterated calls for an end to the war and the realisation of a

Palestinian state.