STATEMENT
Human Rights Council 62nd Session
Item 2 - ID with COI on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and in Israel
Statement delivered by Ms Marita SØRHEIM-RENSVIK
Minister, Deputy Permanent Representative
Permanent Representative of Norway.
Check against delivery
15 June 2026
President,
We thank the Commission of Inquiry for the latest report which paints a grave picture of the extensive violence inflicted on civilians in Palestine.
Settler violence has reached extreme levels. Palestinians are being killed, homes destroyed, and communities uprooted. The reported enabling of this violence by Israeli authorities is deeply concerning, and the international community is alarmed that such brutality continues with impunity. Several countries, including Norway, are now implementing measures against extremist settlers. As occupying power, Israel is bound under international law to protect the Palestinian civilian population. It must bring an end to settler violence and ensure full accountability.
The report also documents public punishments, torture, and unlawful killings, executed by Hamas in Gaza. This terror regime is inflicting trauma on a population already deeply affected by war and humanitarian crisis.
Norway thanks the COI for also addressing the notable increase in Israeli civilians killed and injured by Palestinian armed groups in 2023.
President, Norway reaffirms our unwavering commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution.
How can this Council reinforce its efforts to address what seems to be a systematic erosion of human rights in Palestine [where settler violence, the introduction of the death penalty - in practice targeting just Palestinians - and the mistreatment and lack of due process for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons are grave, but not exclusive, examples]?
Thank you.
