A senior United Nations official resigned on Friday over the withdrawal of a report accusing Israel of imposing an “apartheid regime” on Palestinians, saying “powerful member states” pressured the world body and its chief with “vicious attacks and threats”.

UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary for the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Rima Khalaf, announced her resignation at a news conference in Beirut after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked for the report to be taken off the ESCWA website.

ESCWA, which comprises 18 Arab states, published the report on Wednesday and said it was the first time a UN body had clearly charged that Israel “has established an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as a whole”.

Israel fiercely rejects the allegation and likened the report to Der Sturmer — a Nazi propaganda publication.

“I do not find it surprising that such member states, who now have governments with little regard for... values of human rights, will resort to intimidation when they find it hard to defend their unlawful policies and practices,” Ms. Khalaf, of Jordan, wrote to Mr. Guterres.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said earlier on Friday that Ms. Khalaf’s resignation was appropriate and Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said it was “long overdue”. The report was published without consultation with the UN secretariat, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric had said.