Gaza Genocide UN Blames Israel
UN Commission: ‘Genocide Is Happening in Gaza, Responsibility Lies With Israel’
GENEVA – The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) has concluded that genocide is taking place in Gaza, with the responsibility resting squarely on Israel, commission chief Navi Pillay told AFP.
The report, released nearly two years after the conflict erupted, comes from the commission tasked with monitoring human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories. It reveals that nearly 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
Most residents of Gaza have already been displaced at least once, and new waves of mass displacement are underway as Israeli forces intensify their push to take control of Gaza City—a region the UN has now declared experiencing full-blown famine.
The COI found that Israeli authorities and military forces committed four of the five genocidal acts defined in the 1948 Genocide Convention since October 2023. These include killing members of the group, inflicting serious bodily or mental harm, creating conditions aimed at the group’s physical destruction, and imposing measures to prevent births within the group.
The commission noted that statements by Israeli officials, combined with the pattern of military actions, point to “intent to destroy … Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group.”
Pillay said Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defense minister Yoav Gallant have “incited the commission of genocide,” and that authorities have failed to hold them accountable.
“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons,” said Pillay, 83, a former South African judge and former head of the UN human rights office who previously led Rwanda’s international tribunal.
While the commission itself has no legal authority, its findings can influence international diplomacy and provide evidence for future prosecutions. Pillay confirmed that the COI is cooperating closely with the International Criminal Court (ICC), sharing thousands of documents and pieces of information.
“The international community cannot stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” Pillay said. “Failure to act amounts to complicity.”
Israel has consistently denied accusations of genocide, though the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered it in January last year to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. In May, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC’s actions prompted a sharp response from the United States under the Trump administration, which imposed sanctions on two ICC judges and two prosecutors, blocking their entry to the U.S. and freezing their assets.
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