Due to ongoing inaction, the denial of entry escalated to UN Special Rapporteurs, becoming the status quo since 2008, when the then Special Rapporteur (SR) of the OPT, Richard Falk, was detained at Ben Gurion Airport and deported. Every subsequent SR of the OPT has been denied entry. The Israeli regime’s non-cooperation with special procedures extended to other mandate holders, such as the SR on violence against women (2015) and the Working Group on Involuntary or Enforced Disappearances (April 2025).
In the face of the UN’s inaction and the lack of accountability, the Israeli regime extended entry denial to high-level UN officials: the former Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, barred from entering Gaza since June 2024; Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) in the OPT was denied entry in February 2025; and, in July 2025, the Israeli regime refused to renew the visa of the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the West Bank and Gaza, Jonathan Whittall.
So, it comes as no surprise, given the blanket impunity provided by UN member states – enhanced by the UN’s inaction – that the Israeli regime’s violations of its obligations as a UN member state have become the norm and not the exception. The killing of 397 UN personnel (including 391 UNRWA staff) as of April 2026 and the ongoing wanton destruction of UN property and premises in the Gaza Strip have become an almost daily occurrence.
… The UN sought and received reparations from the Israeli regime for the Zionists’ assassination of the UN Mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte, in 1948. In December 2023, and although he didn’t call it a genocide, Mr. Guterres did invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter – one of the most potent actions available to the UNSG. Article 99 forces the Security Council to consider whatever issue is brought to its attention by the UNSG invoking this “peacemaking” measure. At the time, the UNSC passed Resolution 2720 to ramp up humanitarian aid to the Strip – without the “humanitarian ceasefire” requested by the Secretary-General. The resolution itself was largely ineffective, but the failure of the Security Council to impose practical measures does not excuse the subsequent inaction of the UN, its leadership and bodies.
The UNSG has not invoked Article 99 again, nor any other measures within his purview to address either the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, or the situation of UNRWA, or Israeli breaches of UN privileges and immunities, settling for ineffective condemnations that serve to normalize Israeli violations and crimes. Additionally, the UN has also failed to protect itself, its agencies and mechanisms through measures and statements that diminish its credibility.
… The historic and ongoing failure of the UN to respond to the Israeli regime’s systematic and systemic violations of its UN obligations serves to ensure the commission of future crimes, and the eventual dismantling of UNRWA and the UN system itself.
