UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel — 2024 Reports

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel was established by Human Rights Council resolution S-30/1 of 27 May 2021 — the first open-ended, standing UN commission of inquiry on the situation — and is chaired by Navi Pillay alongside commissioners Miloon Kothari and Chris Sidoti. On 12 June 2024 it released its report to the Human Rights Council’s 56th session (A/HRC/56/26), the UN’s first in-depth investigation of the events of and since 7 October 2023, accompanied by two detailed findings documents: A/HRC/56/CRP.3 on the 7 October attacks in Israel and A/HRC/56/CRP.4 on Israel’s military operations and attacks in Gaza through 31 December 2023.

The Commission found that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes in Israel on 7 October 2023, including intentionally directing attacks against civilians, murder, torture, and taking hostages. It found Israeli authorities responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention, and outrages upon personal dignity, and for the crimes against humanity of extermination, gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys, murder, forcible transfer, and torture. On 10 October 2024 the Commission released its report to the General Assembly (A/79/232, dated 11 September 2024), finding that Israel perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system — constituting war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination — and that both Israel and Palestinian armed groups committed torture and sexual and gender-based violence against detainees and hostages, respectively.

Why it matters

• The UN’s standing investigative body on Palestine: its findings are the official evidentiary record cited by the ICJ, the ICC, and states assessing complicity and obligations of non-assistance.
• The June 2024 report was the first UN investigation to document starvation as a method of warfare and the crime against humanity of extermination in Gaza — findings later echoed in the ICC’s arrest warrants.
• Its repeated calls for access to Gaza, and its documentation of Israel’s refusal to cooperate, form part of the compliance record referenced in the ICJ’s 24 May 2024 order on investigative access.

Key resources

• Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel — official page (all reports)
• Press release: Israeli authorities, Palestinian armed groups are responsible for war crimes, other grave violations of international law, UN Inquiry finds (12 June 2024)
• A/HRC/56/CRP.3 — Detailed findings on the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel (PDF)
• A/HRC/56/CRP.4 — Detailed findings on Israeli military operations in Gaza, 7 October–31 December 2023 (PDF)
• Press release: UN Commission finds war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israeli attacks on Gaza health facilities and treatment of detainees, hostages (10 October 2024)