Israel Is Committing Genocide In Gaza, UN Inquiry Finds
Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a United Nations commission has concluded.
“It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza,” the report by UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory reads.
This is the first of such damning allegations made publicly by a UN body and the Israeli government is likely to deny it.
Israel reportedly did not co-operate during the investigation, claiming that the UN is biased against it.
The commission has been investigating Israel’s conduct since the Hamas attacks of 7th October 2023 and it found that Israel committed four out of the five acts outlined in the genocide convention which was established in 1948 following the holocaust.
It states that Israel has been killing Palestinians or forcing them to live in inhumane conditions that lead to death, causing serious bodily or mental harm including through sexual crime, displacement and torture, deliberately imposing inhumane conditions and imposing measures intended to prevent births.
The commission stated that Israel has deliberately targeted Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure in a bid to destroy it and has ignored warnings over the humanitarian crisis.
It also alleged that IDF personnel have carried out “rape and sexualised torture” as part of a “patterrn of collective punishment”, and accuses Israeli forces of deliberately targeting some children “with the intention to kill them”.
The report has called on states to stop supplying Israel with weapons and outlined the legal obligation of nations to do everything within their power to stop the genocide.
It further urged Israel to allow access for internationally recognised aid agencies.
Almost 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7th October according to the Palestinian health ministry which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. However, it has confirmed that the majority of the death toll is made up of women and children.
The commission says it is now looking at further evidence against other individuals accused of inciting genocide.
“Israel categorically rejects the distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of the Commission of Inquiry,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday. It described the inquiry as a “report that relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods” and accused the authors of being proxies for the militant group “whose horrific statements about Jews have been condemned worldwide.”
This comes as accusations of genocide are growing internationally, including from within the usually tolerant United States.
Last week, US Senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is “implementing a plan to ethnically clean Gaza of Palestinians” and that the United States is complicit.
This report was published as Israel launched a ground incursion in Gaza city, ramping up its destruction of the city by destroying residential buildings, killing hundreds and displacing tens of thousands.
Featured image: AP Photo/Maya Allerruzzo