The killing of journalists in Gaza is shielding perpetrators from accountability, an independent United Nations expert warned the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as investigators reported continuing international crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Ukraine, and deepening repression in the Russian Federation.
‘Genocide Is Not Sustained by Killing Alone’, Special Rapporteur Says
“Sanctioning those pursuing accountability constitutes an attack on international justice and on the United Nations itself,” declared Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, citing United States sanctions against herself and 13 judges and officials of the International Criminal Court.
“The US and Israel are cannibalizing the rule of law, aiming to replace it with their rule of lawlessness. Enabled by global predatory elites, they are forging a world where no one is safe from the scourge of war, and the protections enshrined in international humanitarian law and the UN Charter lie buried beneath the rubble that modern warlords can profit from,” she said.
Since October 2023, Gaza has witnessed the systematic elimination of witnesses, information control, incitement to hatred and the legitimization of atrocities, she said, noting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described information as an “eighth front” of the war. “Genocide is not sustained by killing alone; in every genocide, dehumanization, information control and media complicity make the destruction of people ‘acceptable’,” she asserted.
Nearly 300 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed over three years, she reported, describing Gaza as “the deadliest place for journalists ever recorded”. Another 100 Palestinian journalists have been arrested, many of whom were tortured, she added.
Israel has barred foreign media from Gaza, she continued, while military censorship within Israel has reached record levels. Nearly 2,400 articles were banned and almost 11,000 redacted in 2024 and 2025. She also criticized Israeli media for normalizing dehumanization and genocidal incitement, including portrayals of Palestinians as “monsters” and a “cancerous growth” and calls for Gaza to be “erased”.
In influential media outlets in the United States, Europe and Australia, Israeli claims are frequently treated as authoritative while Palestinian voices are marginalized, she noted.
Highlighting the language used to describe victims, she contrasted references to Israeli “children” with Palestinian “minors”, or how Israeli victims have names while Palestinians are “numbers as most”. She stressed that “such framing reproduces legal distortions that camouflage atrocity”.
“Palestinians ‘die’; buildings ‘collapse’,” she observed, recalling how Hind Rajab, killed after pleading for rescue from a bullet-riddled car, was described in headlines as merely “found dead”.
“Journalists are civilians,” she stressed. Deliberately attacking them or civilian media facilities constitutes a war crime, while killings and persecution forming part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians may constitute crimes against humanity.
“The media’s contribution to making genocide appear legitimate, its perpetrators credible and its victims expendable, also demands accountability,” she declared.
Urging Member States to confront the situation, she concluded: “Truth in Palestine is under attack, and with it, the entire system you are part of — a system never believed to lead to heaven, but which today sits idle while we fall into hell.”
Commission Reports Continuing International Crimes in Gaza, West Bank
Srinivasan Muralidhar, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, warned that the failure to act is particularly egregious as Palestinian deaths continued to mount despite the so-called “ceasefire”.
Over 75,000 Palestinians have been killed across the Occupied Palestinian Territory since October 2023, including at least 21,500 children and 11,000 women, he reported, calling the international community’s failure to halt the violence “an outrage”.
The Commission found that “Israeli authorities and forces have continued to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide”, he said. Israel continues expanding its territorial control in Gaza, sometimes killing Palestinian civilians who approach the Yellow Line. In the West Bank, Palestinian deaths have risen significantly.
The Commission concluded that Israeli military operations and settler violence formed part of a coordinated attack against Palestinians, pursuing common objectives: expanding settlements, annexing territory and displacing Palestinians from their land. It also found that Israel committed crimes against humanity, including extermination, torture and rape, in the West Bank.
“The conduct of the Israeli authorities and forces form part of a broader strategy to exterminate and displace Palestinians and impose conditions of life that are unliveable,” he said. The Commission further documented age-based persecution of Palestinian children and the use of sexual violence to displace and subjugate Palestinians.
Turning to abuses by Palestinian authorities, he cited excessive force in the West Bank and failures to investigate killings. “The State of Palestine must cease the targeting of human rights defenders and other civil society actors,” he noted.
Calling on Israel to end its unlawful occupation, evacuate settlements and cease international crimes, including genocide in Gaza, he urged Member States not to assist the maintenance of the occupation politically, militarily or financially. He also called for cooperation with the International Criminal Court, expressing regret that he was addressing the Committee by video after being denied a visa.
Israel, United States Reject Experts’ Findings as Other Delegations Demand Accountability
During the ensuing interactive dialogue, Israel’s representative dismissed the Commission’s report as a $4 million work of “historical fiction”, accusing its authors of lacking evidence. Addressing Ms. Albanese directly, he declared: “You are a liar, and you are a stain on the United Nations,” accusing her of dismissing evidence of Hamas using press credentials and demanding her resignation.
The United States’ representative accused the Commission of legitimizing Hamas propaganda for use before the International Criminal Court. Denouncing the United Nations’ disproportionate scrutiny of Israel, she stated: “Israel has become the Jew among nations at the United Nations.”
The Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine condemned decades of occupation, displacement and impunity, urging Governments to “move beyond statements and take concrete measures” to protect civilians, deter settler violence and hold perpetrators accountable.
The Russian Federation’s representative cited over 3,500 incidents affecting Palestinian civilians since the ceasefire, noting that key tasks, including disarming Hamas and withdrawing Israeli forces, remained unfulfilled.
The representative of the European Union, in its capacity as observer, condemned settler violence and settlement-expansion, reaffirming support for international accountability mechanisms. The United Kingdom’s delegate stressed that only a competent court could determine if the word “genocide” is appropriate, while recognizing Israel’s continued occupation as unlawful.
Speaking for the Gulf Cooperation Council, Bahrain’s representative demanded full implementation of the Gaza ceasefire. Egypt’s delegate condemned Israeli violations and attacks on journalists, rejecting attempts to alter East Jerusalem’s status. Bangladesh’s representative warned that attacks on journalists “destroy the truth” and obstruct documentation of abuses, calling for an independent Palestinian State based on pre-1967 borders.
Ukraine: Attacks on Energy Infrastructure Leave Civilians Facing Deadly Cold
Turning to Ukraine, Erik Møse, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, said that four and a half years of armed conflict had devastated civilians, with casualties in September 2026 rising by 85 per cent compared with the same month in 2025.
Russian Federation forces have intensified attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, damaging facilities and disrupting essential services, he reported. As temperatures fell to -21°C last winter, millions endured prolonged outages of heating, electricity, gas and water. “The scariest thing was to fall asleep and not to wake up; it was like torture to be scared of dying from cold,” one Kyiv resident told investigators.
The Commission concluded that Russian Federation authorities had committed “war crimes of intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, as well as crimes against humanity of other inhumane acts”, he said.
Investigators also found that Russian agents trafficked nationals from 29 countries into military service through fraudulent recruitment, often using false employment contracts. Victims were assigned particularly dangerous front-line tasks, resulting in death, injury and trauma, he said, calling for their immediate discharge.
Russian Federation’s War against Ukraine Fuels Repression at Home, Persecution Abroad
Mariana Katzarova, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, warned that “the war against Ukraine now justifies deeper repression and impunity at home”.
Between 650,000 and 900,000 people have left the Russian Federation since its full-scale invasion, she reported, describing systematic persecution of a society in exile.
Since 2022, authorities have issued 157 sentences in absentia, used red notices and extradition requests, cancelled passports and held family members hostage in the country.
“Transnational repression is the continuation beyond Russia’s borders of the same structural, State-sponsored system of repression I have documented at home,” she said, calling it “deliberate, institutionalized and adaptive”.
By early September 2026, 4,968 people faced politically motivated criminal prosecution, including 2,178 in detention, she reported. Treason and espionage convictions had risen by 30 per cent to 468, while almost 1,100 people had been placed on a register of terrorists and extremists while still children.
Also speaking today were Nils Muižnieks, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, and Jan-Michael Simon, Chair of the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua.