A United Nations Commission of Inquiry has concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, accusing senior officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of inciting acts intended to destroy the Palestinian population. Israel has rejected the findings as “scandalous” and “fake.”
The commission’s 72-page legal analysis, released on Tuesday as Israel launched a ground offensive in Gaza City, cited widespread killings, aid blockages, forced displacement, and even the destruction of a fertility clinic as evidence. It is the strongest U.N.-related finding to date on the conflict, though the commission operates independently and does not officially speak for the United Nations.
“Genocidal campaign”
“Today we witness in real time how the promise of ‘never again’ is broken,” said Navi Pillay, head of the inquiry and a former International Criminal Court judge. She said Israeli authorities had orchestrated a “genocidal campaign” for nearly two years “with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza.”
The report found that Israel committed four out of five acts defined as genocide under the 1948 U.N. Genocide Convention: mass killings; causing serious bodily or mental harm; deliberately inflicting destructive living conditions; and imposing measures to prevent births.
Evidence included interviews with survivors, doctors, witness testimony, satellite imagery, and verified open-source material. The commission also cited statements by Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant as “direct evidence of genocidal intent.” One example was Netanyahu’s November 2023 letter to soldiers, which referred to the Gaza campaign in terms of what the inquiry called a “holy war of total annihilation.”
Israeli officials reject report
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who was also named in the report, said the commission had distorted his words. “While Israel defends its people and seeks the return of hostages, this morally bankrupt Commission obsesses over blaming the Jewish state, whitewashing Hamas’s atrocities, and turning victims into the accused,” Herzog said.
Israel’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Daniel Meron, called the findings a “libellous rant” authored by “Hamas proxies.” He said Israel would not cooperate with the inquiry, which it views as politically motivated.
Pillay dismissed the criticism, saying: “I wish they would tell us where we went wrong on these facts, or just cooperate with us.”
War toll and legal challenges
The Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and resulted in 251 hostages, has left more than 64,000 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza health officials. Aid monitors warn that parts of the enclave are experiencing famine.
Israel is already fighting a genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which is ongoing. While the broader U.N. has not formally declared Israel’s actions genocide, international pressure is mounting.
“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons,” Pillay said.
