UN inquiry finds Israel committed acts of genocide in Gaza

A United Nations Commission of Inquiry has concluded that Israel committed four of the five acts of genocide outlined under international law during its ongoing war on Gaza, which began in 2023.

The damning report, released Tuesday, accuses Israeli authorities and forces of actions that could amount to genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry was set up in 2021 by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories.

It is led by a three-member panel chaired by Navi Pillay, South Africa’s former UN human rights chief and ex-president of the international tribunal for the Rwandan genocide.

According to the report, Israel’s conduct in Gaza demonstrates four acts of genocide:

• Killing members of a group, including attacks on civilians and protected sites.
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm  through indiscriminate assaults, abuse of detainees, forced displacement, and environmental devastation.
• Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group by destroying infrastructure, obstructing medical care, and blocking essential aid such as food, fuel, and water.
• Other acts contributing to group destruction, including reproductive violence and conditions disproportionately harming children.

The findings mark one of the UN’s most serious condemnations of Israel’s actions since the escalation of the Gaza conflict.

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The commission said it had reviewed public statements by Israeli leaders and concluded that President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defensce minister Yoav Gallant had incited acts of genocide.

It further stated that the conduct of Israeli authorities and security forces in Gaza left “no reasonable conclusion” other than the existence of genocidal intent.