Former Odisha High Court Chief Justice S. Muralidhar has been appointed to chair the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, the UN Human Rights Council announced on Friday.

Council President Ambassador Jürg Lauber said Muralidhar will lead the three-member panel tasked with investigating alleged violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in Israel and the Palestinian territories. He succeeds Brazilian expert Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, who previously headed the Commission.

Muralidhar will serve alongside Florence Mumba of Zambia and Chris Sidoti of Australia, the latter of whom has been reappointed. The Commission was first created in 2021 to examine alleged abuses leading up to and since April 13 of that year, amid escalating tensions and conflict between Israel and Palestinian groups.

According to the Council’s statement, the body is mandated to investigate “all alleged violations,” identify those responsible and recommend measures to ensure accountability and justice for victims. The panel’s work also includes examining the underlying causes of recurring conflict, including systemic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity.

The mandate was widened in 2024, when the Council instructed the Commission to submit additional reports on Israeli settlers and on global weapons transfers connected to Israeli military operations, particularly those carried out in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. In a report released in September 2025, the Commission concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip – findings that Israel has rejected.

Muralidhar, one of India’s most prominent jurists, practised at the Supreme Court of India for nearly two decades and served as counsel to the National Human Rights Commission before being appointed a judge of the Delhi High Court in 2006. He became Chief Justice of the Odisha High Court in 2021 and returned to private practice after retiring in 2023, later being designated a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court.

His colleagues on the Commission bring extensive international experience. Mumba, a veteran Zambian judge, is a former vice-president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and has been widely recognised for her work in establishing rape as a prosecutable war crime. Sidoti is an Australian human rights lawyer who previously served as the country’s Human Rights Commissioner and has advised multiple UN bodies and national rights institutions.

The Commission will continue to report its findings to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.