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Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, to hold Public Hearings from 11 to 12 March
- UN OHCHR
- Mar 7
- 2 min read
The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, will hold public hearings from 11 to 12 March 2025 to gather testimony from victims of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence committed by the Israeli Security Forces and Israeli settlers.
The hearings will take place in Geneva at Palais des Nations, and will be broadcast live in English on UN Web TV.
The hearings are open to accredited media. Media without UNOG media credentials who wish to attend need to register by 7 March UNOG Indico.
The first day of hearings will focus on sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, perpetrated by members of the Israeli Security Forces and settlers across the Occupied Palestinian Territory during detention and ground offensives since 7 October 2023.
The second day of hearings will focus on deliberate attacks on sexual and reproductive health care facilities and the impact of collapsed health care infrastructure on women and girls. It will also examine reproductive violence and harms resulting from Israeli authorities’ preventing humanitarian assistance and necessary medications and equipment to ensure safe pregnancies, deliveries, post-partum and neonatal care.
The Commission of Inquiry held a first series of public hearings from 7 to 11 November 2022 and a second series of public hearings from 20 to 24 March 2023.
The coming hearings, which are part of the Commission’s investigative work, will be followed by the publication of a new report on 13 March, “More Than a Human Can Bear: Israel's systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since 7 October 2023”.
The Commission will hold a press conference on 13 March in Geneva, at 11:00 CEST, which will also be broadcast on UN Web TV and is open to accredited journalists.
Background: The UN Human Rights Council mandated the Commission on 27 May 2021 to “investigate, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, all alleged violations of international humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law leading up to and since 13 April 2021.” Resolution A/HRC/RES/S-30/1 further requested the commission of inquiry to “investigate all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity.” The Commission of Inquiry was mandated to report to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly annually commencing from June 2022 and September 2022, respectively.
More information on the work of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, can be found here.
(c) 2025, OHCHR
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