A UN commission says that Israel has met four out of five possible criteria for genocide
Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, a UN commission has found.
The report was carried out by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which has been investigating the events on and since 7 October, 2023, for the last two years.
It concluded that the Israeli state and its security forces committed four of the five genocidal acts outlined under international law.
These are: 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 report said this had taken place both within Gaza and against Palestinians in Israeli jails.
“The commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, chair of the commission. “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.”
The UK, which had previously stopped short of calling the actions genocide, has been highly critical of Israeli policy towards Palestinians and suspended the arms licences of 30 weapons it believed might be being used “in violations of international humanitarian law”.
As Israel ramps up a new offensive in Gaza City, which it says marks the “next phase” of the conflict, how important is this, and will it change anything?
What did the report find?
The commission report outlined the “deprivation of food and basic necessities” to Palestinians, referencing the aid blockade imposed by Israel.
It also referenced forced displacement, in which many Palestinians have been repeatedly forced to flee their homes or shelters as Israeli military activity spreads.
The report referenced an increase in miscarriages in Gaza of up to
300 per cent since 7 October and surge in premature births and obstetric emergencies due to hunger and poor healthcare.
It also examined an attack on Gaza’s largest fertility clinic in December 2023,
which reportedly destroyed around 4,000 embryos and 1,000 sperm samples and
unfertilised eggs.
To conclude that genocide has taken place, the report had to show not only that mass atrocities were taking place but that there was intent to carry out these acts.
It said this was evidenced by the pattern of Israeli military activity as well as statements by Israel leaders.
Israeli launched a military campaign in Gaza after 7 October, 2023, when Hamas militants massacred 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped around 250 others.
Since then at least 64,905 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Famine has been declared in Gaza’s largest city, with children among those starving to death, and over 90 per cent of homes have been damaged or destroyed.
Far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that “there is no such thing as the Palestinian people” and described the Palestinians in Gaza as “two million Nazis”.
When asked for his view on what Israeli success looked like in Gaza, he said that it would see the Strip “totally destroyed” and Palestinians would “leave in great numbers to third countries”.
National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, another far-right cabinet member, has also called for no aid to be allowed into Gaza.
Both ministers have been sanctioned by the UK for their rhetoric towards Gaza.
How has Israel responded?
Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the report, calling it “distorted and false”.
A spokesperson accused the three experts on the commission of being “Hamas proxies” and relying “entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others” that had “already been thoroughly debunked”.
The commission was set up by the UN Human Rights Council, which both Israel and the US are boycotting, alleging bias against Israel.
Israel says its actions are justified as self-defence, to protect its citizens and to release the estimated 48 hostages still held by Hamas, around 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Some families of hostages have rejected talks of a truce with Hamas, while others believe that further military activity puts their relatives at risk.
What happens now?
With Israel strongly refuting the findings of the report, it is unlikely to change Israeli policy in Gaza.
However, it adds to growing international condemnation of its conduct.
This could support further action from other countries, such as a suspension of arms or withdrawal of political support.
“This finding will not end the war. But this additional finding from a neutral and highly authoritative body will further undermine the constant claims by Israel that any condemnation of its conduct as illegal represents nothing but anti-Israel and even antisemitic bias,” Marc Weller, Professor of International Law at the University of Cambridge, told The i Paper.
Next week, the UK is expected to join allies including France and Canada in recognising an independent Palestinian state at the UN.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, said this would be antisemitic and reward Hamas.
It may also widen divides among Israel’s allies.
The UK and US have strongly diverged over the war in Gaza, while a senior European official said the bloc is “divided” over Israel’s actions.
