The UN Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Thursday published a second report accusing Israel of violating international law, i24NEWS reports.
In its report, the commission headed by former UN human rights official Navi Pillay calls on the UN Security Council to put an end to the "permanent occupation" of Palestinian Arab territories by Israel and asks the various UN member states to prosecute Israeli leaders.
The 28-page report, which will be presented to the UN General Assembly on October 27, accuses Israel of “violating international law by making permanent its control over the West Bank” and “annexing Palestinian-claimed lands of Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as Syrian land in the Golan Heights."
"Israel's actions constituting de facto annexation include the expropriation of land and natural resources, the establishment of settlements and outposts, the maintenance of a restrictive and discriminatory planning and construction regime for Palestinians and the extraterritorial extension of Israeli law to Israeli settlers in the West Bank,” the report charges.
It also accuses Israel of carrying out "discriminatory policies against Arab citizens, stealing natural resources and committing gender-based violence against Palestinian women."
The authors call for an urgent advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice "on the legal consequences of Israel's continued refusal to end its occupation," and an investigation by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
The Commission of Inquiry’s previous report, released in June, accused Israel of “war crimes” during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May of 2021.
The report was condemned by Israel as well as by the US State Department.
In response to Thursday’s report, Israel's UN mission said in a statement, "Commissioners who made antisemitic comments and who have proactively engaged in anti-Israel activism, both before and after the appointment, have no legitimacy nor credibility in addressing the issue at hand."
The statement added that the report continues “to damage the credibility of the United Nations and its human rights mechanisms.” The mission underlined that the document does not mention Hamas and acts of terrorism.
Pillay, who was named as the head of the Commission of Inquiry in July of 2021, has a history of anti-Israel statements.
In 2014, she condemned Israel for "targeting" UN-run schools and hospitals in Gaza, while failing to mention three UN-run schools in Gaza had been used as rocket warehouses, a gross violation of international law that clearly falls within the category of war crimes.
Weeks before that, Pillay opened an emergency UN debate on Gaza by saying there is a "strong possibility" that Israel is violating law in Gaza, and that could amount to war crimes.