GENEVA — A United Nations commission of inquiry has said there are reasonable grounds to conclude that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
In a new report, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory says its investigation suggests four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out since the beginning of the war with Hamas in 2023. These include killing members of the group, causing serious physical and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group, and imposing measures to prevent births.
The commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, cited statements made by Israeli leaders and the patterns of conduct by the Israeli military as evidence of “genocidal intent.”
Israel’s Response and Ongoing Conflict
Israel’s foreign ministry has categorically rejected the report, calling it “distorted and false.” A spokesperson accused the commission’s experts of serving as “Hamas proxies” and relying on what they described as “Hamas falsehoods.” The ministry’s statement also said that Hamas was the party that had “attempted genocide in Israel” with its October 7, 2023 attack.
That attack by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people and the taking of 251 hostages. In response, the Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza that has since killed at least 64,905 people, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Since the start of the conflict, more than 90% of homes in Gaza are estimated to be damaged or destroyed, and UN-backed food security experts have declared a famine in Gaza City.
The report also alleges that Israeli leaders, including President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, have “incited the commission of genocide.”
The commission warns that other countries have an immediate obligation under the Genocide Convention to “prevent and punish the crime of genocide” and could be complicit if they fail to do so.
Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is hearing a separate case brought by South Africa, which also accuses Israel of genocide. Israel has called that case “wholly unfounded.”
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