 "In a first, UN probe says Israel is committing genocide in Gaza")
A two-year-long investigation by the United Nations has found that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza, noting that it has been “flagrantly disregarding” international law and “orchestrating a genocidal campaign for almost two years now”.
The investigation was carried out by the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry, marking the first time the agency has made such a conclusion.
In its 72-page report, the UN Commission concluded that since October 2023, Israel has carried out four of the five acts defined as genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The authors of the report noted that the conclusion is “the strongest and most authoritative UN finding to date.”
What has the report said?
The investigators said explicit statements by Israeli civilian and military authorities along with the pattern of Israeli force conduct “indicated that the genocidal acts were committed with intent to destroy … Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group”.
The report concluded that Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant has “incited the commission of genocide and that Israeli authorities have failed to take action against them to punish this incitement”.
“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons,” stated Pillay, 83, a former South African judge who once headed the international tribunal for Rwanda and also served as UN human rights chief.
The UN itself has not labelled the situation in Gaza a genocide, although the body’s aid chief urged world leaders in May to “act decisively to prevent genocide”, while its rights chief last week denounced Israeli “genocidal rhetoric”.
How Israel has reacted to UN report?
Israel on Tuesday said it “categorically rejects” a report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry which determined that Israel has since October 2023 committed “genocide” in Gaza.
“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.
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