A/HRC/28/45 I. Introduction 1. The present report, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 25/29, covers the period from 26 May 2013 to 31 October 2014. It is based primarily on monitoring and other information-gathering activities carried out by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and other United Nations entities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It also contains information obtained from Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and from media sources. 2. The report does not provide a comprehensive account of all human rights concerns in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and should be read in conjunction with the reports of the Secretary-General on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Occupied Syrian Golan (A/HRC/28/44 and A/69/348) and other recent reports of the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner (A/HRC/28/80 and Add.1, and A/69/347). II. Legal background 3. International human rights law and international humanitarian law are applicable in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. A detailed analysis of the legal obligations of Israel as the occupying Power, the Palestinian Authority, the de facto authorities and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza can be found in the High Commissioner’s first periodic report on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (A/HRC/12/37, paras. 5–9). 4. In 2014, the State of Palestine acceded to 20 international treaties,1 including seven of the nine core international human rights treaties. 5. By acceding to those treaties, the State of Palestine has assumed legal obligations under international law, including the obligation to report to various human rights treaty bodies. Nevertheless, Israel, as the occupying Power, remains bound by international human rights law and humanitarian law, while other relevant actors also remain bound by international law. 6. On 23 April 2014, Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a government of national consensus, which was sworn in by the President, Mahmoud Abbas, under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah, on 2 June 2014. However, from 2 June 2014 to the end of the reporting period, there remained uncertainty regarding the actual power exercised by the Government and the degree to which it or any other authority or group exercised control in Gaza. In any event, it must be recalled that those authorities or groups exercising government-like functions and effective control over territory in Gaza are bound by relevant human rights law in that territory (see A/HRC/8/17, para. 9). 1 http://nad-plo.org/userfiles/file/fact%20sheets/Q&A%20Accession.pdf. 3