A/HRC/S-3/2 page 5 II. Organization of work of the third special session 1. Pursuant to paragraph 10 of General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, the Council “shall be able to hold special sessions, when needed, at the request of a member of the Council with the support of one third of the membership of the Council”. 2. By a letter dated 10 November 2006, addressed to the President of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/S-3/1), the Permanent Representatives of Bahrain and Pakistan to the United Nations Office at Geneva, on behalf of the Group of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, respectively, requested that a special session of the Council be convened immediately “to consider and take action on the gross human rights violations emanating from Israeli military incursions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the recent one in northern Gaza and the assault on Beit Hanoun”. 3. The letter, received by the President on the same day, was accompanied by signatures in support of the above-mentioned request from the following 24 States members of the Council: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Zambia. A further State member of the Council, Ecuador, also signed the above-mentioned request. 4. As more than one third of the membership of the Council supported the above-mentioned request, the President, following consultations with interested parties, decided to convene a special session of the Council on 15 November 2006. A. Opening and duration of the session 5. The Council held its third special session at the United Nations Office at Geneva on 15 November 2006. It held two meetings (see A/HRC/S-3/SR.1-2)* during the session. 6. The third special session was opened by the President of the Council, Mr. Luis Alfonso de Alba. B. Attendance 7. The special session was attended by representatives of States members of the Council, observers for non-member States of the Council, observers for non-member States of the United Nations and other observers, as well as observers for United Nations entities, specialized agencies and related organizations, intergovernmental organizations and other entities, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations. * Summary records of each of the meetings are subject to correction. They are considered final with the issuance of a consolidated corrigendum (A/HRC/S-3/SR.1-2/Corrigendum).