A UN commission of inquiry concluded on Tuesday that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and that senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are abetting the atrocities.
"Genocide is taking place in Gaza," said Navi Pillay, head of the Commission of Inquiry and former judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The commission cites examples of the scale of the killings, aid blockades, forced displacement and the destruction of a fertility clinic to support its conclusions, joining human rights groups that have reached the same conclusions.
"Responsibility for these crimes lies with the Israeli authorities, who have been orchestrating a genocidal campaign for almost two years with the specific intention of destroying the Palestinians," added Pillay.
Israel refuses to cooperate with the commission
Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission, and the Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva accuses it of having a political agenda against Israel.
The 72-page legal analysis is the most concrete UN finding to date, but the commission of inquiry is independent and does not speak on behalf of the United Nations.
The UN has not yet used the term genocide, but is under increasing pressure to do so.
Israel is fighting a genocide lawsuit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. It rejects such accusations, citing its right to self-defense after a deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
More than 64 thousand people killed
The ensuing Gaza conflict has killed more than 64.000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, while the global hunger body says parts of the country are suffering from famine.
The 1948 UN Genocide Convention, adopted in the wake of the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany, defines genocide as crimes committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such."
Photo: EPA/HAITHAM IMAD
