GENEVA — A United Nations panel has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, charging that its military campaign has gone beyond warfare and is aimed at the destruction of Palestinians as a people, according to “Arab News”.
The findings, released Tuesday by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), conclude that Israel has committed four of the five genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention, including mass killings, inflicting serious harm, creating unlivable conditions, and measures to prevent births.
“Genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur,” said Navi Pillay, the commission’s chair, a former South African judge who previously led the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. “The responsibility lies with the State of Israel.”
The COI does not speak for the UN as a whole, but its reports carry weight as a body charged with investigating human rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Accusations at the Highest Levels
The commission directly named Israel’s leadership, including President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of incitement to genocide and of failing to curb rhetoric that encouraged mass atrocities. Pillay said their public statements and the conduct of Israeli forces reveal “an intent to destroy Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group.”
The report comes nearly two years after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assault inside Israel, which killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliation has left Gaza in ruins. Nearly 65,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the territory’s health ministry, numbers the UN says it considers reliable. The majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced, many more than once, as Israeli troops press into Gaza City. UN agencies warn famine is now entrenched.
Israel’s Furious Response
Israel flatly rejected the allegations, denouncing the inquiry as biased and illegitimate. “Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry,” the foreign ministry said, accusing its authors of serving as “Hamas proxies” and of “openly antisemitic positions.”
Israeli officials argue the report relies on “Hamas falsehoods” and ignores the atrocities of October 7, which sparked the war.
Global Pressure and Legal Ramifications
Though the COI lacks legal authority, its findings could be used by international courts. Pillay confirmed her team has shared evidence with the International Criminal Court, which in May issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on separate war crimes and crimes against humanity charges.
Earlier, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, underscoring the growing legal and diplomatic scrutiny facing the government in Jerusalem.
“The absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity,” Pillay warned, urging the international community not to remain silent.
For now, Israel’s allies, led by the United States, remain defensive of its campaign, even as pressure mounts globally over the war’s staggering toll.
