By Motunrayo,Navi Pillay
Copyright nigerianeye
A United Nations (UN) independent international commission
of inquiry has deemed that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in
the Gaza Strip.
The commission said the 72-page report released Tuesday is
the “the strongest and most authoritative UN finding to date” on the war.
At least 64,964 people have been killed in Israeli attacks
in Gaza since fighting began in October 2023, according to the territory’s
Hamas-run health ministry.
The UN commission has been investigating the events for the
last two years, concluding that Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces
committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
They include killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm,
deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the
destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures
intended to prevent births.
The three-member expert panel is chaired by Navi Pillay, a
South African former UN human rights chief who was president of the
international tribunal on Rwanda’s genocide; Chris Sidoti, an Australian human
rights lawyer; and Miloon Kothari, an Indian expert on housing and land rights.
“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,” Pillay said.
“The Commission also finds that Israel has failed to prevent
and punish the commission of genocide, through failure to investigate genocidal
acts and to prosecute alleged perpetrators.”
The report also came as Israel began a ground offensive in
Gaza, marking a pivotal moment in the war.
Until the invasion, Gaza City was one of the areas in the
besieged enclave yet to be occupied by the IDF.
Other cities in Gaza, including Rafah and Khan Younis, have
been largely destroyed and flattened by Israeli strikes and demolitions.
Israel’s foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the
UN commission report, denouncing it as “distorted and false”.
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