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Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel declared in a landmark report released Tuesday.
The commission urged Israel and all states to meet their obligations under international law to “end the genocide and punish those responsible.”
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After two years of investigations into events since Oct. 7, 2023, the commission concluded that Israeli authorities and security forces committed four of the five genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention—killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.
Explicit statements by Israeli civilian and military leaders, combined with the conduct of security forces, demonstrated intent “to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” the report said.
Commission chair Navi Pillay said responsibility 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 accused Israel of “flagrantly disregarding” orders from the International Court of Justice as well as warnings from U.N. bodies, member states, human rights groups and civil society, insisting the authorities “had no intention to change their course of actions.”
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Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it categorically rejected the U.N. report, denouncing it as “distorted and false.”
A spokesperson accused the three commission experts of serving as “Hamas proxies” and relying “entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others” that had “already been thoroughly debunked.”
“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,” the spokesperson added.
The report comes as Israel’s military continues its assault on Gaza. Nearly 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, with the enclave devastated and experts warning of famine.
On Tuesday, at least 38 Palestinians were reported killed in fresh Israeli strikes, including 35 in Gaza City.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, posting on X, praised the genocidal campaign in Gaza: “Gaza is burning. The Israeli army strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and army soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent and we will not go back—until the completion of the mission.”
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