Former United Nations torture rapporteur Alice Jill Edwards has accused colleagues of failing to adequately investigate the October 7, 2023, attacks while devoting disproportionate attention to Israel. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, she called for consistent scrutiny of violations by Israeli forces, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, as well as abuses in other conflicts.

Edwards, who held the UN mandate from 2022 to 2026, visited kibbutzim attacked by Hamas during a December 2024 trip. She recalled bullet-riddled homes, damaged kitchen appliances and flowers emerging from rubble more than a year after civilians were killed there. The experience reinforced her view that attacks on civilians cannot be justified under international law.

Following the attacks’ third anniversary, Edwards said two former colleagues had still produced no investigation, documentation or report on those events. She singled out the special rapporteurs on violence against women and on the occupied Palestinian territories, alleging that their failure to engage adequately was deliberate. Edwards and Pramila Patten, the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, had produced reports after October 7, but Edwards said sustained attention had been lacking afterward.

Edwards disputed explanations that a lack of Israeli access prevented engagement. She said her own findings drew on independent sources, despite criticism that she had relied on Israeli information. Asked whether she had seen the two colleagues attempt to interview survivors of sexual violence or others affected by the attacks, she said she had not.

She also highlighted the suffering of relatives of the 251 hostages taken on October 7. During meetings in Tel Aviv, she encountered families and young children struggling with uncertainty about whether their loved ones were alive or would return. Such distress, she said, can reach the threshold of psychological torture.

Beyond Israel and the Palestinian territories, Edwards argued that Sudan, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of Congo deserved greater attention. Citing her own figures, she said roughly 50 communications had concerned Israel since October 7, compared with about 10 concerning Sudan and a number in the mid-teens concerning the Russia-Ukraine war itself. She also cited 90,000 rapes in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year that she said the UN had documented and verified.

Edwards alleged that colleagues sought to weaken the wording of communications about October 7 and subsequently discouraged other officials from endorsing them. She described an environment of intimidation in which officials feared professional repercussions for expressing differing views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some people who contacted her after she spoke out, she said, reported leaving the UN because they felt unable to carry out their work.

She said Secretary-General António Guterres had limited influence over individual rapporteurs, although she would have welcomed stronger leadership. Edwards urged his successor to prioritize peacemaking and conflict prevention, arguing that diminished confidence in UN impartiality could undermine its ability to mediate.

Edwards also criticized the absence of international observers in Gaza and international access to prisons. She suggested involving international judges in relevant Israeli judicial proceedings without moving cases to an international court. Emphasizing that her work had included investigating allegations concerning Israeli treatment of Palestinian prisoners, she said accountability must extend to all victims: “I want things to be fair.”