A United Nations inquiry commission alleges Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
A new study finds there are grounds to believe that four of the five acts of genocide under international law have been committed since the beginning of the conflict against Hamas in 2023: killing members of a group, seriously bodily and mentally harming them, deliberately causing conditions calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births.
It points to comments from Israeli leaders, and the course of action taken by Israeli forces, as proof of genocidal intent.
The foreign ministry of Israel stated that it categorically rejected the report, condemning it as “distorted and false”.
A spokesperson attacked the three experts on the commission for being “Hamas proxies” and depending “entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others” that were already “thoroughly debunked”.
“Contrary to the falsehoods in the report, it’s Hamas that tried to commit genocide against Israel – killing 1,200 individuals, raping women, setting families ablaze, and publicly stating its intention to kill all Jews,” they said.
The Israeli army invaded Gaza in retaliation for the historic Hamas assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which resulted in approximately 1,200 fatalities and 251 hostages.
At least 64,905 individuals have been killed by Israeli assaults in Gaza since that time, based on the health ministry of the territory, which is run by Hamas.
The majority of the population has been displaced multiple times; over 90% of houses are damaged or destroyed; the health, water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure has collapsed; and UN-supported food security specialists have certified a famine in Gaza City.
The UN Human Rights Council in 2021 set up the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory to examine all suspected breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law.
Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN commission of inquiry says
The three-expert panel is led by Navi Pillay, a South African former head of UN human rights who had served as president of the international tribunal on Rwanda’s genocide.
The latest report by the commission claims that Israeli forces and Israeli officials have committed four out of the five acts of genocide recognized under the 1948 Genocide Convention against a national, ethnic, racial or religious group – Palestinians in Gaza in this instance:
Killing group members by attacking protected objects; attacks against civilians and other protected persons; and the intentional infliction of conditions leading to deaths
Inducing serious bodily or mental harm to group members by means of direct attacks on civilians and protected objects; serious ill-treatment of detainees; forced displacement; and environmental degradation
Deliberately inflicting conditions of life designed to bring about the group’s destruction in whole or in part through destruction of homes and land crucial to Palestinians; destruction and denial of access to medical care; forced displacement; obstruction of vital aid, water, electricity and fuel from reaching Palestinians; reproductive violence; and certain conditions affecting children
Enforcing actions aimed at preventing births by way of the December 2023 bombing of Gaza’s largest fertility clinic, which was said to have destroyed approximately 4,000 embryos and 1,000 sperm samples and unfertilised eggs
In order to meet the legal definition of genocide under the Genocide Convention, it is also necessary to determine that the perpetrator did any one of those acts with specific intent to destroy the group as a whole or in part.
The commission states it reviewed statements from Israeli leaders and accuses President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant of “inciting the commission of genocide”.
It further adds that “genocidal intent was the only reasonable inference” that could be made from the conduct pattern of Israeli authorities and security forces in Gaza.
The commission reports the trend of behavior as deliberately killing and injuring severely an unprecedented number of Palestinians with heavy weapons; intentional and widespread attacks on religious, cultural and educational sites; and besieging Gaza and starving its citizens.
The government of Israel maintains that its actions are aimed at only dismantling the capabilities of Hamas and not the Gaza people. It claims that its forces work within the scope of international law and undertake all measures within their power to minimize damage to civilians.
“As early as 7 October 2023, Prime Minister Netanyahu promised to bring. ‘mighty vengeance’ upon ‘all of the places where Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble’,” Pillay told the BBC.
“Him mentioning the use of the term ‘wicked city’ in the same sentence suggested that he viewed the entire city of Gaza [Gaza City] as culpable and an object of revenge. And he instructed Palestinians to ‘leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere’.
She further said: “It took us two years to collect all the actions and establish factual findings, check if that had occurred… It’s only the facts which will guide you. And you can only bring it under the Genocide Convention if these acts were performed with this intent.”
The commission states that the actions of the Israeli political and military leadership are “attributable to the State of Israel”, and hence that the state “bears responsibility for failure to prevent genocide, perpetration of genocide and failure to punish genocide”.
It also cautions that all other nations have an urgent responsibility under the Genocide Convention to “prevent and punish the crime of genocide,” using all means at their disposal. Failing to do so, it states, they may be complicit.
“We have not proceeded as far as to identify parties as being co-conspirators, or complicit in genocide. But that is the… continuing work of this commission. They will reach there,” Pillay stated.
Several Israeli and international human rights groups, UN independent experts, and academics have also charged Israel with genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is considering a case brought by South Africa charging Israeli troops with genocide. Israel has termed the case “wholly unfounded” and based on “inaccurate and biased claims”.
