Three members of UN commission on Israel resign

This photo, provided by an American contractor on condition of anonymity because they were revealing their employers’ internal operations, shows a woman slumped over in a donkey cart after the contractor said she was hit in the head with part of a stun grenade at a food distribution site in Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in June 2025. (AP Photo)

The three members of a United Nations commission charged with investigating human rights abuses in Israel and the Palestinian territories have resigned, saying it is time to renew the body, a UN spokesperson said Monday.

The three-person commission was created in 2021 and has been sharply criticized by Israel.

South Africa’s Navi Pillay, 83, who once headed the international tribunal for Rwanda, cited her age in a letter announcing her resignation.

Australia’s Chris Sidoti, 74, said in his letter it was an “appropriate time” to renew the commission, while India’s Miloon Kothari, in his late 60s, just said it had been “an honour” to serve.

Jurg Lauber, the head of the UN’s Human Rights Council, asked the council’s member states to propose new members by August 31.