UN rights council to hold May 27 session on Israel, Palestinians

A ball of fire erupts from a building in Gaza City’s Rimal residential district on May 20, 2021, during Israeli bombardment on the Hamas-controlled enclave.  (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)

GENEVA — The UN Human Rights Council said Thursday it would hold a special session on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, amid deadly violence between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in Gaza.

The session, planned for next Thursday, will address “the grave human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,” the council said in a statement.

The session was requested by Pakistan, which is the coordinator of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Palestinian authorities, it said.

This will mark the 30th extraordinary meeting of the UN’s top rights body since its creation 15 years ago.

The UN did not immediately say how many of the Geneva-based council’s 47 member states had backed the call, but at least a third must come out in support for a special session request to be granted.

Thursday’s announcement came as Israeli air strikes continued to hammer Gaza on Thursday and as diplomats stepped up efforts towards a ceasefire to stem the devastating violence that erupted 10 days ago.

Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed 230 Palestinians, including 65 children, according to the Gaza health ministry, leaving vast areas in rubble and displacing tens of thousands in the crowded territory.

Israel’s army has meanwhile said Hamas and other Islamist armed groups in Gaza have fired 4,070 rockets towards Israel, the overwhelming majority of them intercepted by its Iron Dome air defences.

The rockets have claimed 12 lives in Israel, including one child, with one Indian and two Thai nationals among those killed, the police says.