United Nations investigators have accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza in a bid to "destroy the Palestinians" there, and blamed Israel's prime minister and other top officials for incitement.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak on behalf of the world body and has faced harsh Israeli criticism, found that "genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur", commission chief Navi Pillay said.
"The responsibility for these atrocity crimes 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 said.
The commission, tasked with investigating the rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, published its latest report on Tuesday, nearly two years after the war erupted in Gaza.
Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas's October 7 attack in 2023, in which more than 1,200 people, including an estimated 30 children, were killed and over 200 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government.
More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's subsequent campaign against Hamas in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, and flattened much of the densely populated strip, which is home to more than two million people.
The October 7 attack was a significant escalation in the long-standing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The vast majority of Gazans have been displaced at least once, with more mass-displacement underway as Israel ramps up efforts to seize control of Gaza City, where the UN has declared a full-blown famine.
What counts as genocide?
The 1948 UN Genocide Convention, adopted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews by Nazi Germany, defines genocide as crimes committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such". To count as genocide, at least one of five acts must have occurred.
The COI found that Israel had committed four of them:
- Killing members of the group
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
It cited as evidence interviews with victims, witnesses, doctors, verified open-source documents and satellite imagery analysis compiled since the war began.
Israel on Tuesday said it "categorically rejects" the findings of the UN probe.
"Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry," a statement from the foreign ministry said.
The Israeli foreign ministry accused the authors of the report of "serving as Hamas proxies", saying they were "notorious for their openly antisemitic positions".
"The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others," it added.
Israel has declined to cooperate with the commission. Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva accuses the commission of having a political agenda against Israel.
The commission's 72-page legal analysis is the strongest UN finding to date, but the body is independent and does not officially speak for the United Nations. The UN has not yet used the term genocide but is under mounting pressure to do so.
Israel is fighting a genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It rejects such accusations, citing its right to self-defence following the October 7 Hamas attack.
The commission also concluded that statements by Netanyahu and other officials are "direct evidence of genocidal intent." It cites a letter he wrote to Israeli soldiers in November 2023 comparing the Gaza operation to what the commission describes as a "holy war of total annihilation" in the Hebrew Bible.
The report also names Israeli President Isaac Herzog and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
'You dehumanise your victims'
South Africa's Pillay, who headed a UN tribunal for Rwanda where more than 1 million people were killed in 1994, said the situations were comparable.
"When I look at the facts in the Rwandan genocide, it's very, very similar to this. You dehumanise your victims. They're animals, and so therefore, without conscience, you can kill them," she said.
While the International Court of Justice referred to other Israeli statements in regard to Gaza and Palestinians in its 2024 emergency measures order, it did not name Netanyahu.
"I hope, as a result of our report, that the minds of states will also be opened," said Pillay, who retires in November.
