GENEVA: UN rights experts called on Monday for independent investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out in Israel and the Palestinian territories since Oct 7.

Morris Tidball-Binz, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, and Alice Jill Edwards, the special rapporteur on torture, issued a joint statement stressing the need for `prompt, transparent and independent investigations` and accountability.

`Independent investigators must be given the necessary resources, support and access required to conduct prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into crimes allegedly committed by all parties to the conflict,` they said in the statement.`The duty to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity, including any act of summary or extrajudicial killing, torture or other outrages on human dignity, is a fundamental legal obligation.

Their statement urged the international community to ensure that all those responsible for the most serious rights violations especially those with command responsibility be `promptly brought to justice`.

They pointed out that `there is no statute of limitation` for war crimes and crimes against humanity, which fall under so-called universal jurisdiction.

That means that courts in any country can prosecute those responsible, regardless of their nationality and the country where the crimes were committed.-AFP