New York, July 9 (SANA) Palestine called on the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to hold Israel accountable for violations against Palestinians and to ensure international investigators have unrestricted access to the occupied Palestinian territories.
Speaking during a Security Council session on conflict-related sexual violence, Palestine’s Permanent envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, cited the U.N. Secretary-General’s 2026 report, saying it documented verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence and other forms of abuse committed by Israeli forces against Palestinians.
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Mansour said the report documented 31 verified victims, including men, women and children, who were subjected to acts including rape, threats of rape, humiliating body searches, forced stripping and other forms of sexual violence in Israeli detention facilities, at military checkpoints and during military raids.
He said the report attributed the verified violations to Israeli forces, the Israel Prison Service and Israeli security and police units, based on U.N. verification standards.
Mansour welcomed the inclusion of Israeli forces on the U.N. blacklist of parties responsible for grave violations, describing the move as “a first step” toward accountability for Palestinian victims.
He urged the Security Council to ensure U.N. agencies and international investigative mechanisms are granted unrestricted access throughout the occupied Palestinian territories to independently verify reported violations.
Mansour also called for immediate protection for Palestinians, the release of Palestinian detainees, including women and children, and access for survivors to medical, psychological, social and legal assistance.
He said international law requires accountability for all verified violations, regardless of the identity of the perpetrators or victims, and rejected what he described as campaigns targeting U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and other U.N. officials for carrying out their mandates.
The United Nations added Israeli forces to its blacklist of parties implicated in conflict-related sexual violence in its annual report submitted to the Security Council on May 28.
T.S /ABD
