The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk (right), alongside the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, during an emergency debate of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Israel's attack on Qatar, in Geneva, on Sept. 16, 2025. (Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP.)
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Tuesday condemned the Israeli attack in Qatar and called on all countries to do the same, at the opening of an urgent debate at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“The Israeli strike against negotiators in Doha on Sept. 9 is a shocking violation of international law” and “an assault on regional peace and stability,” he said. “I therefore condemn it and urge the Council and all governments to do likewise,” he added.
According to Türk, the Israeli strikes also undermine “Qatar's essential role as a facilitator and peace negotiator.”
The Israeli attack, which targeted Hamas officials, was carried out last week against a residential complex in Doha, the capital of the country mediating negotiations for a Gaza cease-fire.
The Israeli strikes killed five Hamas members and one member of the Qatari security forces, but the Islamist movement said that the intended targets survived. The attack has prompted numerous condemnations, especially from the wealthy Gulf monarchies, who are U.S. allies.
The Human Rights Council announced Monday that the urgent debate on these strikes would be held at the request of Pakistan, on behalf of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and Kuwait, on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council. This is the tenth urgent debate since the Human Rights Council was established in 2006.
The Israeli mission to the United Nations in Geneva called Monday’s urgent debate “absurd.” “It is yet another shameful episode” for the Council, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Daniel Meron, told reporters Tuesday, accusing the U.N. body of “serving as a platform for anti-Israeli propaganda.”
In retaliation for the unprecedented attack by the Islamist movement Hamas in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli army launched a devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip, where nearly all of the more than two million inhabitants have been displaced at least once, according to the United Nations.
Israel continues attacks on southern Lebanon, demolishes buildings in Bint Jbeil