But on Monday, Professor Schabas’s letter of resignation stated, Human Rights Council members decided to ask United Nations lawyers to weigh in. That appears to have spurred the decision to resign.

“The Commission of Inquiry is at a decisive stage in its work,” Professor Schabas wrote. “It has largely completed the task of gathering material and listening to victims and other witnesses, including experts. The work on the drafting of the report is beginning. I believe that it is difficult for the work to continue while a procedure is underway to consider whether the chair of the commission should be removed.’

Professor Schabas, a professor of international law at Middlesex University in London, added in his letter that while he was not asked to detail his consultancy work when he was appointed, his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had been well known. He said he had pledged to serve “with independence and impartiality.”

“This work in defense of human rights appears to have made me a huge target for malicious attacks which, if Israel’s complaint is to be taken at face value, will only intensify in the weeks to come,” he wrote.