UN Investigator Accuses Israel of Hindering Probe into Hamas Attack
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UN Investigator Accuses Israel of Hindering Probe into Hamas Attack
By Roselyn James
Former UN Human Rights Director Navi Pillay, leading a three-person investigation, asserted on Tuesday that Israel is impeding UN investigators from communicating with witnesses and victims of the October 7 Hamas attack.
INCNews247 recalls that the UN Human Rights Council established the Commission of Inquiry in May 2021 to investigate allegations of human rights and humanitarian law violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
“We are unable to enter Israel, so I regret that those within who would like to speak with us are not able to do so,” Pillay stated.
Diplomats at the UN in Geneva received an update from the probe on its progress, which has focused on the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza since October 7.
Regarding the Israeli Government’s stance, one of the three investigation members, Chris Sidoti, remarked, “We have encountered not just a lack of cooperation but active obstruction of our efforts to obtain evidence from Israeli witnesses and victims to the events that occurred in southern Israel.”
Israeli authorities report that 1,170 individuals, primarily civilians, lost their lives in Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, which sparked the Gaza conflict. Additionally, terrorists abducted approximately 250 individuals, with Israel estimating that 129 remain in Gaza, 34 of whom are believed to be deceased.
The Health Ministry in Gaza, under Hamas control, claims that at least 33,843 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s retaliatory operation, with the majority being women and children.
The commission is investigating alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as those occurring during the Hamas onslaught, according to former High Court judge Pillay, aged 82, from South Africa.
Speaking via video link, Sidoti mentioned the challenges the inquiry faces in gathering evidence from numerous witnesses. He appealed to the Israeli government for cooperation in understanding the experiences of victims and witnesses to the events in southern Israel.
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Additionally, some digital evidence collected by investigators on October 7 has now disappeared from the internet.
Former Australian Human Rights Commissioner Sidoti emphasized, “It would not have been possible to collect it if it had not been collected on that day.”
Pillay, a former judge on the International Criminal Court and head of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, stated that more than 5,000 documents gathered between October and December 2023 were shared with the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The group will present its initial findings to the Human Rights Council in June.
In response to the briefing, Israel stated that UN representatives had visited Israel to speak with victims and survivors of the Hamas attack.
“The 1,200 people murdered, the women and girls raped, and the hostages taken into Gaza, know too well that they will never get any justice or the dignified treatment they deserve from the Commission of Inquiry and its members, who have a track record of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements,” the Israeli mission said in a statement to AFP.
The third Commissioner, Miloon Kothari, issued an apology in August 2022 after referring to the Jewish lobby as a “Jewish lobby,” which led to accusations of anti-Semitism from Israel and calls for his resignation.
