GENEVA, Switzerland/ RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: UN rights experts called Monday for independent investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out in Israel and the Palestinian territories since October 7.
Meanwhile, Palestinian authorities have demanded the Israeli military release information about more than 100 people thought to have been detained in Gaza during its assault on the territory following Hamas attacks.
Morris Tidball-Binz, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, and Alice Jill Edwards, the special rapporteur on torture, issued a joint statement stressing the need for “prompt, transparent and independent investigations” and accountability.
“Independent investigators must be given the necessary resources, support and access required to conduct prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into crimes allegedly committed by all parties to the conflict,” they said in the statement.
“The duty to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity, including any act of summary or extrajudicial killing, torture or other outrages on human dignity, is a fundamental legal obligation.”
Their comments came amid a four-day pause in the relentless hostilities since Hamas launched its unprecedented attacks in Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
Israel’s military response has so far killed nearly 15,000 people, mostly civilians and including thousands of children, according to Gaza’s Hamas government.
The independent experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.
Their statement urged the international community to ensure that all those responsible for the most serious rights violations — especially those with command responsibility — be “promptly brought to justice”.
They pointed out that “there is no statute of limitation” for war crimes and crimes against humanity, which fall under so-called universal jurisdiction.
That means that courts in any country can prosecute those responsible, regardless of their nationality and the country where the crimes were committed.
“We encourage all states to play a proactive role in identifying key suspected perpetrators and helping to facilitate prosecutions through the principle of mutual legal assistance,” they said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian authorities have demanded the Israeli military release information about more than 100 people thought to have been detained in Gaza during its assault on the territory following Hamas attacks.
The head of the Palestinian Authority’s commission for prisoners, Qaddura Fares, said on Sunday that Israeli officials had told him at one point their side had made 105 arrests.
But he said Israel had not announced the number publicly and there was “no detail about what has become of these people”.
“We fear they may have been killed after being detained and interrogated,” he told AFP.
The Israeli military told AFP on Monday that it could not comment on the issue at this stage.
Israel launched bombardments and a ground offensive in Gaza after the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants who killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
Hamas says the Israeli offensive has killed nearly 15,000 people, mostly civilians. The bombardments have flattened homes and displaced 1.7 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people, according to the United Nations.
The UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA said in a report that Israeli forces had detained people walking to southern Gaza from the north on the Salah al-Din road during the Israeli operations and a truce that came into force on November 24.
Red Cross medical worker Ramadan Hossu said in a video released by his organisation that Israeli forces strip-searched and handcuffed him after detaining him on the road.
One displaced Gaza resident, Sahar Awwad, told AFP that Israeli soldiers detained her son Mohammed as he tried to leave southern Gaza on November 12.
“He was freed after nine days” after “undergoing torture,” Awwad said.
OCHA said families had been separated by Israeli forces at a checkpoint on the Salah al-Din Road.
One child “had to cross through the checkpoint on his own following his father’s arrest,” it said. —AFP
