A United Nations inquiry has determined that Israel is responsible for committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, urging immediate international action to halt the atrocities and hold those responsible accountable.
The findings were released by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. After two years of investigation into events since October 7, 2023, the Commission concluded that Israeli forces and authorities carried out four of the five acts defined as genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
These include mass killings, causing serious physical and psychological harm, imposing life conditions intended to destroy Palestinians as a group, and implementing measures to prevent births.
According to the report, Israeli leaders and military officials not only orchestrated such actions but did so with the intent to eliminate Palestinians in Gaza. “The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission. “There is clear evidence of intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through actions that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”
The inquiry further stated that top Israeli leadership, including President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, incited genocidal acts while failing to prevent or punish them. The report also highlights Israel’s defiance of International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders and repeated warnings from states, human rights groups, and civil society.
In its examination, the Commission found widespread evidence of genocidal acts: mass killings of civilians, starvation tactics through total siege and blocked aid, the collapse of healthcare and education systems, systematic sexual and gender-based violence, targeted attacks on children, and destruction of cultural and religious sites. The Commission applied the ICJ’s “only reasonable inference” standard in determining that Israel’s intent was genocidal.
Pillay stressed that Israel has pursued a campaign of destruction in Gaza for nearly two years. “Israel must immediately end the genocide and comply fully with the ICJ’s provisional measures,” she said, adding that failure by the international community to intervene amounts to complicity.
The report calls on Israel to lift the siege, end policies of starvation, and allow unrestricted humanitarian access for UN agencies and aid organizations. It also recommends that UN Member States stop supplying arms or equipment that could facilitate genocidal acts, prevent corporations within their jurisdictions from aiding Israel’s actions, and pursue accountability measures through legal proceedings.
“The international community cannot remain silent,” Pillay warned. “Every day of inaction costs lives and undermines global credibility. All states are legally obligated to use all available means to stop the genocide in Gaza.”