The UN commission of inquiry has announced that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, writes the BBC.
The latest report says that there is reason to believe that since the beginning of hostilities in 2023, four of the five conditions that, based on international law, allow us to conclude that genocide is taking place have been observed. It also quotes statements from Israeli leaders and describes the actions of the Israeli army, which indicate deliberate acts of genocide. The Israeli Foreign Ministry categorically rejected the report’s statements, calling them “distorted and false.”
Israel has accused three members of the committee of supporting Hamas, and has indicated that the report is based entirely on Hamas’ lies, which are spread and repeated by others, and everything said in the report has already been refuted. The ministry added that Hamas was the one that attempted to commit genocide against Jews and openly expressed its desire to destroy all Jews.
An Israeli military official dismissed the report as baseless, saying that no other country had acted in such circumstances and done so much to prevent civilian casualties on the battlefield. Israel launched its offensive on Gaza after a Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel in October 2023. According to the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry, at least 64,905 people have been killed during the fighting. Most of the population has been displaced several times, and more than 90% of the area’s homes have been destroyed or damaged. Health care infrastructure, water supply and sewage systems have also been destroyed.
UN food security experts have declared a famine in Gaza City.
The commission was established in 2021 to investigate alleged violations of international human rights law. However, it does not express the official UN position, and the organization has not yet used the term genocide to describe the situation in Gaza. The commission has previously concluded that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have committed war crimes and violations of international law, and that Israel has also committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The commission’s report says that Israeli authorities and armed forces have committed and continue to commit four of the five acts listed in the 1948 Genocide Convention. Israel has killed Palestinians by attacking specific objects, deliberately targeting civilians and creating conditions causing death. It has also caused physical and mental harm to members of the ethnic group, ill-treatment of detainees, forcible transfer and environmental destruction. In Gaza, conditions have been deliberately created aimed at the partial or total destruction of a specific population group. Israel will also take actions aimed at reducing or stopping the birth rate, attacking Gaza’s largest infertility treatment center in 2023.
To officially declare genocide, it is necessary to prove that the perpetrators committed one of these acts with the intent to destroy a population group. The commission said it had analyzed statements by Israeli leaders and drew attention to the fact that President Isaac Herzog,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant have incited genocide.
The commission said the acts include deliberate killing and causing harm to Palestinians through attacks with heavy ammunition, systematic and widespread attacks on religious, cultural and educational sites. A siege has also been imposed with the aim of starving the population of Gaza.
Israeli political and military leaders regularly state that military operations in Gaza are carried out in self-defense. The Israelis also insist that they are acting in accordance with international law and are doing everything possible to minimize harm to civilians.
A number of international and Israeli human rights organizations have also called Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide. The International Court of Justice is currently considering a South African application accusing Israel of committing genocide. Israel has called the case baseless and based on lies.
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