GENEVA, Switzerland — The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold an urgent debate in Geneva on Tuesday on Israel’s September 9 attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, the Council said on Monday.
The September 9 airstrike, which Hamas says killed five of its members but not its leadership, drew widespread international condemnation, including from Gulf monarchies allied with the United States, and Washington itself. A Qatari officer was also killed.
The debate was requested by Pakistan on behalf of member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and by Kuwait on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The request came as leaders of Arab and Islamic states were meeting in Doha on Monday, where they were expected to warn that Israel’s attack on Qatar and other “hostile acts” threaten coexistence and efforts to normalize ties in the region, according to a draft resolution of that gathering.
Tuesday’s urgent debate will be the 10th of its kind to be held at the UN Human Rights Council since its creation in 2006.
The Israeli mission in Geneva described the decision to hold an urgent debate as “absurd.”
“Any product it renders will be a stain on the human rights mechanisms,” the mission said in a statement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the strike last week, comparing Israel’s operations in the wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre to US actions in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terror attack.
The premier took a defiant tone in an English-language video defending Israel’s actions, and warned Qatar that either it must “expel” the Hamas politburo members or “bring them to justice, because if you don’t, we will.”
Qatar, which hosts the largest US base in the region, plays a mediation role in the Gaza war alongside the United States and Egypt.
On the tarmac in Washington ahead of his flight to Israel Saturday, Rubio told reporters that the US was “not happy” about the seemingly failed Israeli strike, but said the attack would not change Washington’s allied status with Israel.
The secretary added that Trump “wants Hamas defeated, he wants the war to end, he wants all 48 hostages home, including those that are deceased, and he wants it all at once,” Rubio continued. “And we’ll have to discuss about how the events last week had an impact on the ability to achieve that in short order.”
Neither the US nor Israel are currently members of the UNHRC but, like all United Nations member states, they have informal observer status and a seat in the council meeting chamber. However, in February both countries announced the were halting engagement with the council.
“The UNHRC has traditionally protected human rights abusers by allowing them to hide from scrutiny, and instead obsessively demonizes the one democracy in the Middle East — Israel,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar charged at the time
“This body has focused on attacking a democratic country and propagating antisemitism, instead of promoting human rights,” he continued.