A United Nations Commission of Inquiry has concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts – findings Israel denounced as “scandalous” and “fake.”
The 72-page report represents the strongest UN finding to date regarding Israel’s conduct in Gaza, though the independent commission does not officially speak for the United Nations as a whole.
“Genocide is occurring in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, head of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and former International Criminal Court judge. “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.”
The commission found Israel had committed four of five acts defined as genocide under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention: killing; causing serious bodily or mental harm; deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy Palestinians in whole or in part; and imposing measures to prevent births.
The report bases its conclusions on interviews with victims, witnesses and medical personnel, along with verified documents and satellite imagery analysis compiled since the war began following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.
Israeli Officials Named in Report
The commission concluded that statements by Netanyahu and other officials constitute “direct evidence of genocidal intent,” citing a November 2023 letter the prime minister wrote to Israeli soldiers comparing the Gaza operation to what the report describes as a “holy war of total annihilation” referenced in Hebrew scripture.
The report also names Israeli President Isaac Herzog and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in its findings.
Pillay, a South African jurist who previously headed a UN tribunal for Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, drew parallels between the situations. “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.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Meron, dismissed the report as authored by “Hamas proxies.”
“Israel categorically rejects the libellous rant published today by this commission of inquiry,” Meron told journalists, calling the findings “scandalous” and “fake.”
Israel declined to cooperate with the commission, which it accuses of maintaining a political agenda and diverging from its mandate.
Legal and Political Context
The war began after Hamas’s October 7 attack killed 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel cites its right to self-defence in rejecting genocide accusations.
The subsequent conflict has killed more than 64,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, while international monitors report famine conditions in parts of the territory.
Israel currently faces a separate genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The ICJ issued emergency measures in 2024 but did not specifically name Netanyahu in its references to Israeli statements about Gaza and Palestinians.
The UN as an institution has not officially adopted the term genocide regarding Gaza, but faces mounting pressure to do so from member states and rights organisations.
