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Independent rights probe highlights Israeli army’s ‘dislocation and destruction’ tactics in Gaza
High-level independent human rights investigators reiterated serious concerns on Wednesday about the legality of the Israeli army's conduct in Gaza and pushed back at claims that their inquiry has done too little to highlight the ongoing ordeal of hostages captured by Palestinian militants.
“People from the north of Gaza move south and suddenly they get attacked in the south. We read all those contrary instructions as pointing to an attitude of not caring for their lives, destruction and dislocation,” said Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem and Israel.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council after presenting the Commission’s report on the initial months of the conflict, Ms. Pillay insisted that in accordance with the laws of war: “You cannot kill civilians, you have to protect them. With this occupation, based on all the information we gathered, it's pretty stark to us. There’s a very clear intention of forcible dislocation of people just to force them out.”
‘Third party’ support
Asked about the role of “third party” countries in both the large-scale bombing and the occupation of Gaza, Ms. Pillay replied that “again and again, thousands of people are telling us that had it not been for the help of powerful countries, Israel would not have been able to carry out this perpetual occupation”.
And in response to the discrepancy between the panel’s findings that war crimes have likely been committed by the Israeli Defense Forces and the current government’s representations of its soldiers as among the most "morally responsible" in the world, Ms. Pillay said that she remained extremely concerned about the widespread killing and destruction of public buildings including hospitals and one university “razed to the ground”.
“I don't know whether it's one of the most moral armies in the world or not, but what I do have expertise in and what I do have authority to do is make assessments of criminal conduct,” said fellow Commissioner Chris Sidoti. “And we've done that in relation to the recent events and you can see that in the report. And the only conclusion you can draw is that the Israeli army is one of the most criminal armies in the world.”
Massive human cost
Since Hamas-led terror attacks on multiple sites in southern Israel on 7 October claimed some 1,250 lives and left more than 250 captured as hostages, Mr. Sidoti noted that “thousands of children, women and men had been killed and injured - Palestinians, Israelis and citizens of other States”.
Responding to allegations that the Commission of Inquiry had done too little to investigate allegations of serious sexual abuse against hostages, Ms. Pillay highlighted the lack of cooperation and access by the Israeli authorities to victims of the 7 October attacks.
“They are denying the victims on the ground there from getting these voices, the authentic voices heard,” the independent rights investigator insisted, comments echoed by fellow Commissioner Mr. Sidoti: “There are hostages that have been released. We would like very much to talk to them when it's appropriate to do so, taking into account the physical and psychological conditions. I mean, our first rule in evidence-collecting is do no harm. So, at an appropriate time for them, we want to talk to them. We want to find out what happened.”
Hostage horror
Earlier in the Human Rights Council, the Commission asserted that the Israeli authorities had been responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity and that Hamas militants had also carried out war crimes of intentionally directing attacks against civilians and “patterns” of sexual abuse, primarily against Israeli women.
A representative from Israel who also spoke at the Council introduced herself as the mother of 23-year-old Romi Gonen, whose car carrying three other passengers was shot at by Hamas fighters who captured her on 7 October.
“As the only survivor, she was brutally dragged by her long, beautiful hair from the car, along the road. I was a witness to this reality while speaking with her on the phone, hearing her helplessness and frustration…That was 257 days ago, and 119 hostages were still being held incommunicado in the Gaza Strip to this day.”
Accountability principle
The Commission of Inquiry's search for transparency is standard procedure in human rights investigations and rooted in a desire to address the causes of unresolved conflicts - like the one in Gaza and the wider Middle East – and pursue accountability for the sake of the victims, the Commissioners explained.
“We've got to understand why this has occurred if we are interested in stopping it from happening again and that that that to me is the key point here,” Mr. Sidoti said. “This has happened time and time and time again. And this is the worst ever. This is the highest death toll ever in this protracted period of warfare…there must be accountability for every specific act of criminality. But if we're going to stop it in the future, we also have to address the question of the context in which it has occurred.”
About the Commission of Inquiry
The Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate all alleged violations of international humanitarian law and abuses of international human rights law leading up and since 13 April 2021.
Its members are not UN staff and do not draw a salary.
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STORY: Commission of Inquiry - Occupied Palestinian Territories
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LENGTH: 2’39”
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
DATELINE: 19 JUNE 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1. Exterior medium-wide, UN Geneva flag alley.
2. Wide, elevated camera shot of podium speakers and journalists.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem and Israel: “People from the north of Gaza move south and suddenly they get attacked in the south. We read all those contrary instructions as pointing to an attitude of not caring for their lives, destruction and dislocation.”
4. Medium-wide of the Press room with journalists.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem and Israel: “We adhere to the law; you cannot kill civilians, you have to protect them. With this occupation, based on all the information we gathered, it's pretty stark to us: there's a very clear intention of forcible dislocation of people just to force them out.”
6. Medium, speakers seated at podium.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Chris Sidoti, Member of the Commission of Inquiry: “I don't know whether it's one of the most moral armies in the world or not… But what I do have expertise in and what I do have authority to do is make assessments of criminal conduct. And we've done that in relation to the recent events and you can see that in the report. And the only conclusion you can draw is that the Israeli army is one of the most criminal armies in the world.”
8. Medium-wide, journalists and TV video journalists with cameras.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem and Israel: “Thousands of people are telling us that had it not been for the help of powerful countries, Israel would not have been able to carry out this perpetual occupation.”
10. Medium-wide, press room showing rows of seats, journalists and podium.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Chris Sidoti, Member of the Commission of Inquiry: “There are hostages that have been released. We would like very much to talk to them when it's appropriate to do so, taking into account the physical and psychological conditions. I mean, our first rule in evidence collecting is do no harm. So, at an appropriate time for them, we want to talk to them. We want to find out what happened.”
12. Medium, journalists listening, taking notes in the Press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Chris Sidoti, Member of the Commission of Inquiry: “This has happened time and time and time again. And this is the worst ever. This is the highest death toll ever in this protracted period of warfare. And there must be accountability for every specific act of criminality. But if we're going to stop it in the future, we also have to address the question of the context in which it has occurred.”
14. Close, cameraman at work.
15. Wide, journalists and TV video journalists to rear.
16. Close, journalist taking notes.
17. Medium, journalists in press room.
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New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
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Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
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Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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