By Liam Buckler,Simon Murphy

Copyright mirror

Israel has committed “four key acts of genocide” against Palestine, according to a devastating report commissioned by the United Nations.

Four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been committed, the probe found.

These include: killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births.

The damning finding came as Israel said its expanded operation in famine-stricken Gaza City had begun – warning residents to head south.

Senior independent rights investigators appointed by the Human Rights Council made the finding on Tuesday.

Israel, founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, adamantly rejected genocide allegations – labelling it an antisemitic “blood libel”.

After a painstaking legal analysis, the commission said Israel had committed four of the five “genocidal acts” defined under an international convention adopted in 1948 known as the “Genocide Convention”.

“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” said Pillay, the commission chair.

“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.”

Pillay, a former UN human rights chief, said “responsibility for the atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons” over the nearly two-year war.

The report concludes that “Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, have incited the commission of genocide”.

The team was commissioned by the Human Rights Council (HRC), the UN’s top human rights body, but it does not speak for the UN.

Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission and has accused it and the HRC of anti-Israel bias.

In its 72-page report, the commission said: “The Commission concludes on reasonable grounds that the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have committed and are continuing to commit the following actus reus of genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, namely (i) killing members of the group; (ii) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (iii) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and (iv) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

“On incitement to genocide, the Commission concludes that Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defence 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 report added: “On the mens rea of genocide, the Commission concludes that statements made by Israeli authorities are direct evidence of genocidal intent. In addition, the Commission concludes that the pattern of conduct is circumstantial evidence of genocidal intent and that genocidal intent was the only reasonable inference that could be drawn from the totality of the evidence.

“Thus, the Commission concludes that the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have had and continue to have the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“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.”

A spokesperson accused the three people on the report as “Hamas proxies” and relying “entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others” that had “already been thoroughly debunked.”

Israel’s foreign ministry has rejected the report, labelling it as “distorted and false”.

“In stark contrast to the lies in the report, Hamas is the party that attempted genocide in Israel – murdering 1,200 people, raping women, burning families alive, and openly declaring its goal of killing every Jew,” they added.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday morning, an Israeli spokesman announced the expansion of the country’s operation, after a night of heavy strikes against northern Gaza that killed at least 20 people.

Israel has been warning Gaza City residents to evacuate for the past month but many have said they are unable to evacuate due to overcrowding in the enclave’s south and the high price of transport.

Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that “Gaza is burning” after heavy strikes overnight targeted Gaza City.

The war was spared by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 2023, which killed about 1,200 people – with 251 hostages taken.

Over 64,900 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, according to Gaza’s health ministry.