UN Commission accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza War report

A United Nations independent international commission of inquiry has concluded that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, marking the most damning UN assessment of the war to date.

The 72-page report, released Tuesday, followed a two-year investigation into the conflict and found that Israeli authorities and security forces carried out four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention. These include killing, causing serious physical or mental harm, deliberately creating conditions of life intended to destroy Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures to prevent births.

According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, at least 64,964 people have been killed since hostilities began in October 2023.

The commission, chaired by South Africa’s former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, alongside Australian lawyer Chris Sidoti and Indian rights expert Miloon Kothari, placed direct responsibility on Israel’s top leadership. “The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza,” Pillay said.

The panel also criticized Israel for failing to investigate genocidal acts or prosecute those allegedly responsible. The release of the report coincided with the launch of an Israeli ground offensive into Gaza City, one of the few areas not yet occupied by the Israeli military. Other cities, including Rafah and Khan Younis, have already been devastated by airstrikes and demolitions.

Israel’s foreign ministry swiftly rejected the findings, dismissing the report as “distorted and false.”