Lanka-headed UN committee condemns Israel’s violent assault on Gaza

The Sri Lanka-headed United Nations Special Committee on Israeli Practices in Occupied Territories has condemned Israel’s violent assault on Gaza, describing it as indiscriminate, disproportionate, and callous.”

Also condemning the October 7 Hamas attack as a war crime, the three-member committee expressed extreme concern about the impact the war in Gaza is having on future generations on both sides.

In an end-of-mission statement, the Committee said it was horrified by violations against Palestinians in Israeli custody and levels of impunity for Israeli soldiers engaged in dehumanising, cruel, and humiliating behaviour towards Palestinians, including women and children.

The United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1968 to examine the human rights situation in the occupied Syrian Golan, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

Since its inception, Sri Lanka has been heading the committee. Sri Lanka’s envoy Mohan Maithri Pieris chairs the committee. 

The Special Committee’s other two members are Malaysia and Senegal. 

The committee’s statement said, “Security personnel publicly and shamelessly share photos on social media platforms that violate the privacy and intimate sphere of Palestinian women, aimed at mocking, shaming, and humiliating them.

“Multiple stakeholders reported a stark increase in sexual harassment, sexual abuse, the threat of rape, and rape itself, including with foreign objects, against men, women, and even children, and intimidation through the use of dogs by Israeli security forces.

“The steep rise in cases of abuse filed against Israeli security officers indicates that a systematic scheme of inhumane treatment is being executed as state policy to deprive Palestinians of their liberty.”