Findings of the Commission
In a new report issued against the backdrop of intensifying Israeli military operations in Gaza, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel called on Israel and all states to fulfil their obligations under international law “to stop genocide” and punish those responsible.
“The Commission believes that Israel is responsible for committing genocide in Gaza,” said Commission Chair Navi Pillay. – “It is clear that there is an intention to destroy Palestinians in Gaza through actions that fall within the criteria set out in the Genocide Convention.
The members of the Commission are not UN staff – they are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council as independent experts.
Israel’s response
Israel’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Meron, strongly rejected the commission’s “selective” findings, stressing that the more than 70-page report “advances the narrative of Hamas and its supporters who seek to delegitimise and demonise the state of Israel”. The report, he said, “falsely accuses Israel of genocidal intent without providing evidence.”
Convention on the Prevention of Genocide
At a press conference in Geneva, commissioners Navi Pillay and Chris Sidoti explained that as a result of their investigation into the war in Gaza, beginning with the Hamas attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023, they concluded: the Israeli authorities and security forces “committed four of the five acts of genocide defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”
These acts include:
- Murder;
- Causing serious physical or mental harm;
- deliberately creating living conditions calculated to destroy Palestinians;
- measures aimed at preventing the birth of children.
According to Pillai, responsibility for these crimes “lies with the Israeli authorities at the highest level”, with “direct statements” disparaging Palestinians by Israeli civilian and military officials.
The commission said it analysed the actions of the Israeli authorities and security forces in Gaza, including “the use of starvation and inhumane living conditions” and concluded that “genocidal intent was the only reasonable conclusion based on the nature of their operations”.
Methodical investigation
The commission said its findings were based on an analysis of Israel’s military operations, including “killing and inflicting serious harm on an unprecedented number of Palestinians” and imposing “an all-out siege, including the blocking of humanitarian aid, which led to starvation”.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), famine has been confirmed in Gaza, with residents being bombed daily and “denied access to means of survival after the Israeli military ordered them to leave the city.”
The report also described the “systematic destruction” of health and education in Gaza, as well as “systematic” acts of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians.
“Stop Genocide.”
The commission also pointed to cases of “direct targeting of children” and Israel’s “disregard for the orders of the UN International Court of Justice, which in March 2024 ordered it to take all necessary measures to ensure the unimpeded provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza.”
“The international community cannot stand by as Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” Pillay emphasised. – When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, inaction is tantamount to complicity. All states have an obligation to use all means reasonably available to them to stop the genocide in Gaza.”
Israel’s blow to Qatar
On Tuesday, the Human Rights Council changed the agenda to hold an extraordinary debate on the Israeli strike a few days ago against the Hamas leadership, which was in Qatar at the time.
The strike hit Doha and reportedly killed six people, including five Hamas members. The Israeli move drew widespread condemnation around the world, including from the Secretary-General. António Guterres called the attack a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
At a Security Council meeting convened in response to the strike, Rosemary DiCarlo, head of the UN Department of Political Affairs, said the attack, which violated Qatar’s sovereignty, posed a serious threat to regional peace and security and undermined international mediation efforts to end the war in Gaza and return the hostages.