A/HRC/9/26 page 3 I. INTRODUCTION 1. At its third special session, held on 15 November 2006, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution S-3/1, in which the Council among other things, called for a high-level fact-finding mission to be established and for the mission to travel to the town of Beit Hanoun in the occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza, following Israeli military operations carried out there around 8 November 2006. The President of the Council appointed Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa to lead the mission, and Professor Christine Chinkin of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as the sole other member of the mission. In accordance with the resolution, the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights provided the administrative, technical and logistical assistance required to enable the mission to fulfil its mandate. 2. The mission has submitted two interim reports to the Council, in which it outlined efforts undertaken to discharge its mandate (A/HRC/5/20). The present report is the final report of the mission, following its trip to Beit Hanoun in May 2008. II. BACKGROUND A. Implementation of the mandate 3. On three occasions, the mission attempted to travel to Beit Hanoun via Israel. Each of these attempts was frustrated by the refusal of the Government of Israel to cooperate with the mission (see A/HRC/5/20). The desire of the mission to travel via Israel was motivated by the experts’ desire to meet with and hear the views of Israeli actors (Government, military and non-governmental), including individuals living in areas of southern Israel under the threat of rocket attack from Gaza. In the view of the mission, hearing and taking into account the views of these actors would, among other things, go some way towards redressing any imbalance in resolution S-3/1 perceived by the Government of Israel. In view of the unchanging attitude of the Government of Israel, the mission decided in January 2008 to travel to Beit Hanoun via Egypt. 4. The mission travelled to Beit Hanoun from 27 to 29 May 2008. Security considerations and the impact of the visit on day-to-day United Nations operations in Gaza limited the stay of the mission to two days and two nights in Gaza. The mission agenda, including the names of organizations and individuals with whom the mission met, is attached to the present report (see annex). B. Mandate 5. The mission’s core mandate was to travel to Beit Hanoun to assess the situation of victims; address the needs of survivors; and make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against any further Israeli assaults. The experts construed this core mandate taking into account: (a) The context provided by the resolution as a whole, with particular reference to collective punishment; the killing of civilians as a gross violation of human rights law and international humanitarian law; international humanitarian law applicable to medical personnel; and the destruction of homes, property and infrastructure in Beit Hanoun;