U.N. commission: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
by Darryl Coote · UPISept. 16 (UPI) -- Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, a United Nations probe by independent rights investigators said Tuesday.
The report from the investigators for the Human Rights Council found that it has "reasonable grounds" to conclude that Israeli authorities and government have committed four of the five punishable acts of genocide under the Genocide Convention amid its nearly two-year war against Hamas.
The crimes the probe found that Israel committed against the Palestinians are: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life intended to bring about their destruction in whole or in part and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
"The commission concludes that Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have incited the commission of genocide and that Israeli authorities have failed to take action against them to punish this incitement," the commission wrote in its 72-page report, adding that statements made by Israeli authorities "are direct evidence of genocidal intent."
"The commission concludes that the State of Israel bears responsibility for the failure to prevent genocide, the commission of genocide and the failure to punish genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."
The report includes recommendations for Israel, including ending its genocide in Gaza. It also recommends that U.N. member states, among other suggestions, cease the transfer of arms to Israel and aid investigations into Israelis and companies facilitating genocide as well as the state of Israel.
While the report was focused on alleged crimes committed in Gaza during the period starting Oct. 7, 2023, when the war began, the commission raises "serious concern that the specific intent to destroy the Palestinians as a whole has extended to the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory," including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The war began when Hamas launched a bloody attack on Israel, resulting in 1,200 Israelis killed and another 251 taken hostage.
Israel responded by devastating Gaza with an air and ground offensive that has reduced most of the Palestinian enclcave's infrastructure and housing to rubble. Nearly 65,000 of the roughly 2 million Palestinians have been killed, and now they are dying of man-made starvation.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health states that as of Tuesday, 428 people, including 146 children, have died from malnutrition.
The International Criminal Court in November issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including using food as a weapon of war.
Israel controls all of Gaza but Gaza City where about 1 million people are believed to be seeking refuge. On Tuesday, as the report was published, Israel launched a ground invasion to claim control of the city.
The report is the latest accusation of genocide made against Israel -- and possibly the most damning yet.
Israeli officials have repeatedly refuted criticism of its war and accusations of genocide as anti-Semitism and of critics playing into the hands of Hamas.
In a statement on Tuesday, Israel's Foreign Ministry called it a "fake report" written by "Hamas proxies."
"Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry," it said.
The ministry accused the commission of relying upon "Hamas falsehoods" that have "already been thoroughly debunked."