HC Türk On OPT: Any Plans For A Better Future Must Deal With The Past, So Accountability Is Crucial

58th session of the Human Rights Council
Interactive Dialogue on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk
Geneva, 26 February 2025

Mr. President,

Excellencies,

We are at an inflection point in the crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

A fragile ceasefire is allowing the people of Gaza to breathe, Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees to be released, and lifesaving humanitarian aid to be delivered.

At this tenuous moment, the world must ask itself how to resolve this decades old conflict and stop the cycle of violence. Any plans for a better future must deal with the past, so accountability and justice for violations are crucial.

For more than 57 years, people in Gaza and in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been suffocating under Israeli occupation. They have been denied their most basic human rights, from the right to self-determination, to freedom of movement, to an adequate standard of living. In Gaza, they have been subjected to blockades amounting to collective punishment. In the West Bank, illegal settlements and violence have been growing for decades, in violation of international law, with a significant increase over the past three years. Most of these violations have gone unpunished.

There is absolutely no justification for the horrific attacks committed on 7 October 2023 when Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups brutally assaulted Israeli communities, killed civilians, and took more than 250 hostages, and I have repeatedly condemned these acts.

And nothing justifies the appalling manner in which Israel has conducted its military operations in Gaza, which consistently breached fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 48,000 people, most of whom are women and children, have been killed.

Over 35,000 children have lost one or both parents.

More than 1,054 medical personnel have been killed, with many others injured or detained by Israeli Forces.

At least 277 United Nations staff have been killed, as well as a reported 200 journalists and media workers.

Over two-thirds of essential infrastructure is destroyed or damaged. The level of devastation to basic features of civilian life across Gaza is massive: from homes, to hospitals, to schools, to the justice system.

Restrictions imposed by Israel, despite its obligations as Occupying Power, have created a humanitarian catastrophe.

And an estimated 90 percent of the population has been displaced, often multiple times.

In the West Bank, Israel has ramped up its use of unnecessary and disproportionate force against Palestinians, has destroyed refugee camps, severely restricted movement, and displaced tens of thousands of people. In the northern West Bank, many are now in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Torture and ill-treatment of detainees has been a continuing and appalling feature on all sides.

The severe crackdown on civic space, affecting in particular those working on human rights and humanitarian issues, through threats, intimidation and other measures, is alarming.

Behind each awful statistic is a life lost, torn apart or shattered. We cannot yet grasp the full extent of this tragedy, nor the many years of trauma, grief and mourning that lie ahead.

Mr. President,

The report before you today takes stock of the raft of international human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the absence of meaningful accountability for them.

There has been an unprecedented disregard for the principles of international humanitarian law in the conduct of hostilities in Gaza and Israel since October 2023.

As just detailed, and as my Office and others have documented, Israel’s means and methods of warfare have caused staggering levels of casualties and destruction, raising concerns over the commission of war crimes and other possible atrocity crimes.

There has been a limited number of investigations and indictments by the Israeli authorities, for example, for abuse of detainees.

However, there are serious doubts about the capacity and will of the Israeli justice system to deliver full accountability, in line with international standards, notably in relation to the unlawful killing of Palestinians in Gaza or in the West Bank.

Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have taken, held, and tortured hostages in Gaza, and have indiscriminately fired projectiles into Israeli territory, amounting to war crimes. There are grave concerns that they may have committed other serious breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza, including the intentional co-location of military objectives and Palestinian civilians.

My Office is unaware of any measures taken by Hamas and other Palestinian groups to punish those responsible for all violations.

Mr. President,

Any attempts at shaping a peaceful future where such horrors do not recur must ensure that perpetrators are held to account.

The tragic record of this conflict, and of so many other conflicts, shows clearly how impunity begets more violence.

Abuse is given free rein to ripple across other war zones.

This harms us all, and generations down the line.

Delegitimising and threatening international institutions that are there to serve people and uphold international law also harms us all.

It is clear that all these violations and abuses need to be investigated independently.

Excellencies,

We urgently need an end to the conflict, the unconditional freeing of all hostages, the release of arbitrarily held detainees, and an end, as rapidly as possible, to Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice.

The ceasefire must hold. Each phase must be implemented by both sides, in good faith, and in full. All of us must do everything in our power to build on it, to create a path to a sustainable peace, so that Palestinians and Israelis can live side by side in equal dignity and rights. And it should be for the Palestinian people to determine their own future.

We must resist any normalization of unlawful conduct, including proposals for annexation or forced transfer, which could threaten the peace and security of Palestinians and Israelis and of the wider region.

This is the moment for voices of reason to prevail; for solutions that will deliver justice, and make space for compassion, healing and truth telling.

This begins by seeing the pain and suffering of the other. We have seen too much dehumanizing rhetoric, including by political leaders.

Defending and maintaining the international edifice of human rights and the law is everyone’s responsibility.

The alternative is unthinkable for Israelis, Palestinians and for our common humanity.

Thank you.

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