Israel accused of perpetrating genocide in Gaza, according to UN report
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry has made a shocking accusation against Israel, stating that the Israeli authorities and forces have committed genocidal acts in the Gaza Strip. Navi Pillay, the commission's chief, declared that genocide is occurring in Gaza and continues to occur.
Pillay, the former South African judge and UN human rights chief, urged the international community not to stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. She also stated that the responsibility for atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons.
The commission found that Israeli authorities and forces had committed four of the five genocidal acts listed in the 1948 Genocide Convention. These include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group's physical destruction, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
The commission's findings have been shared with the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC itself authorized investigations into Israel in January 2024 for suspected incitement and public calls for genocide in the Gaza Strip, based on findings by UN investigative bodies and other human rights organizations.
The attack by Hamas in October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to official Israeli figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 65,000 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The absence of action to stop the alleged genocide amounts to complicity, according to Pillay. The UN's rights chief last week denounced Israeli 'genocidal rhetoric'.
Israel has rejected the report, calling it distorted and false. The US President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on two ICC judges and two prosecutors in response to the court's actions.
The UN's aid chief urged world leaders in May to 'act decisively to prevent genocide' in Gaza. Four months later, the International Criminal Court issued international arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The vast majority of Gazans have been displaced at least once. The commission was tasked with investigating the rights situation in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. The commission is cooperating with the International Criminal Court prosecutor.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Read also:
- United States tariffs pose a threat to India, necessitating the recruitment of adept negotiators or strategists, similar to those who had influenced Trump's decisions.
- Weekly happenings in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Southwest region's most popular posts, accompanied by an inquiry:
- Discussion between Putin and Trump in Alaska could potentially overshadow Ukraine's concerns
