UN Commission Recognizes Israeli Actions in Gaza as Genocide

A UN inquiry commission has found that Israel's actions in Gaza constitute genocide according to the definition of international law.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, stated in its report on September 16 that Israeli authorities and security forces had perpetrated four of the five acts of genocide as defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention.

“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” insisted Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”

These acts are: killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.

The Commission also analyzed conduct of Israeli authorities and the Israeli security forces in Gaza, “including imposing starvation and inhumane conditions of life for Palestinians in Gaza…genocidal intent was the only reasonable inference that could be concluded from the nature of their operations,” the panel said.

The Commission’s assertion follows its review of Israeli military operations in Gaza, “including killing and seriously harming precedented numbers of Palestinians” and the imposition of a “total siege, including blocking humanitarian aid leading to starvation,” it said.

According to the UN aid coordination wing, OCHA, nearly one million people remain in Gaza City, famine has been confirmed there, and residents face daily bombardment and “compromised access to means of survival after the Israeli military placed the entire city under a displacement order.”

For its latest report, the panel also examined what it called the “systematic destruction” of healthcare and education in Gaza and “systematic” acts of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians. 

The commission also attributed the conclusions to evidence such as Israeli leadership declarations and Israeli troops' actions in Gaza since the war against Hamas started in October 2023. The panel added that Israeli political and military leadership, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, had issued statements inciting violence.

The report stated that the situation in Gaza — such as large-scale killings, demolitions of homes, breakdown of healthcare and sanitation, denial of humanitarian assistance, and destruction of Gaza's principal fertility clinic — reflected an apparent policy aimed at causing destruction among the Palestinian population.

The commission said that according to the Genocide Convention, all states have a responsibility to prevent and punish genocide. It cautioned that states which do not do so may become complicit.

More than 64,900 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the conflict began, according to Gaza's health ministry. The UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese previously estimated the casualty figure at as much as 680,000, with women and children accounting for over 75% of the fatalities.

Israel insists that its operation in Gaza is a defense effort aimed at defeating Hamas and freeing hostages.

The report of the commission is the most authoritative UN-sanctioned analysis to date of the war, although not officially the United Nations' position. The International Court of Justice is also considering a case filed by South Africa charging Israel with genocide, to which Israel responds as "wholly unfounded."

Meanwhile, Israel's Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Danny Meron, dismissed the Commission's "cherry-picked" findings outright, maintaining that the 70-plus page report "promotes a narrative serving Hamas and its supporters in attempting to delegitimize and demonize the state of Israel. The report falsely accuses Israel of genocidal intent, an allegation it cannot substantiate."

UN Inquiry: Hamas Committed War Crimes in October 2023

The inquiry, led by former UN rights chief Navi Pillay since 2021, earlier found that Hamas committed war crimes in the October 7, 2023 attack that killed about 1,200 and saw 251 taken hostage, and that Israeli forces committed war crimes in Gaza.