By Ariana News
Copyright ariananews
A United Nations Commission of Inquiry has concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, incited such acts.
The findings, released Tuesday in a 72-page report, accuse Israeli authorities of orchestrating a campaign of killings, forced displacement, aid blockages, and even the destruction of medical facilities, including a fertility clinic.
The inquiry was led by Navi Pillay, a former International Criminal Court judge who also oversaw a UN tribunal on Rwanda.
“Genocide is occurring in Gaza,” Pillay said. “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.”
Israel has refused to cooperate with the inquiry and dismissed its conclusions as politically motivated. Its mission in Geneva said the commission holds an inherent bias against Israel.
The report’s legal analysis is the strongest UN-backed assessment so far, though the commission operates independently and does not represent the official position of the United Nations. The UN itself has not yet formally used the term “genocide,” but pressure on the body to do so is increasing.
Israel is already fighting a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, where it argues its military campaign is an act of self-defence after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Since then, the war has left more than 64,000 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, while aid monitors warn parts of the enclave are suffering famine.
The commission determined Israel had committed four of the five acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention: killing members of a protected group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately creating life conditions intended to bring about their destruction, and imposing measures to prevent births.
Investigators relied on victim and witness testimonies, medical reports, satellite imagery, and verified open-source evidence. They also cited statements from Netanyahu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and former defence minister Yoav Gallant as “direct evidence of genocidal intent.”
The report points to a letter Netanyahu sent to soldiers in November 2023, in which he compared operations in Gaza to what the inquiry described as a “holy war of total annihilation” in the Hebrew Bible.
Drawing parallels with the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Pillay said both conflicts shared patterns of dehumanisation. “When I look at the facts in the Rwandan genocide, it’s very, very similar to this. You dehumanise your victims. They’re animals, and so therefore, without conscience, you can kill them,” she said.
The ICJ previously referred to Israeli officials’ rhetoric in its 2024 emergency measures order, but did not name Netanyahu directly. Pillay said she hopes the new findings will push governments to act: “I hope, as a result of our report, that the minds of states will also be opened.”
