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A UN panel on Wednesday asserted that Israel committed crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza, including “genocide,” and that the Israeli state and Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes.
The report by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory constitutes the first in-depth investigation by the United Nations into the course of the war, which erupted on October 7 after Hamas’ unprecedented offensive into Israeli territory.
The Committee found that Israel had committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
The report pointed to a “deliberate and direct attack on civilians” in the Gaza Strip.
The group emphasized the “targeting of Palestinian men and boys through crimes against humanity such as genocide and gender-based persecution, along with killings, forced transfers, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment.”
Israel quickly rejected the report’s findings, accusing the panel of “systematic discrimination” against it.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Merav Elon-Shahar, confirmed in a statement that the investigation team “proved once again that all of its actions serve a political agenda focused on opposing Israel.”
Unlike genocide, crimes against humanity do not necessarily target a specific population, but can target any citizen, according to the United Nations. But for such characterizations, they must come in the context of large-scale attacks, unlike war crimes, which can be isolated incidents.
The war broke out on October 7 after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory, killing 1,194 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse count based on official Israeli data.
During the attack, the Committee found that “the military wing of the Hamas movement and 6 other Palestinian armed groups were responsible for war crimes such as directing deliberate attacks against civilians, deliberate killing, torture, inhuman or cruel treatment, and destruction and seizure of enemy property. , assaulting a person’s dignity and taking hostages, including children, are “violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
During the attack, 251 hostages were taken, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, and the Israeli military says 41 died.
Israel has responded with a violent campaign of bombings, raids and ground attacks that have so far killed at least 37,164 people in Gaza, according to the latest count from the Ministry of Health in the Strip.
The report will be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council next week.
The UN Human Rights Council established an unprecedented Commission of Inquiry in May 2021 to investigate violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
– “War Crimes” in Hamas Attack –
Since October 7, all three panelists have focused on the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.
Navi Pillai, head of the inquiry committee, said, “It is necessary to hold all the perpetrators accountable. Pillai was previously a human rights officer at the United Nations and a judge at the International Criminal Court.
“Israel must immediately stop its military operations and attacks on Gaza,” he insisted.
“Hamas and Palestinian armed groups must immediately stop firing rockets and release all hostages,” he added. Taking hostages is considered a war crime.
“Individuals from Palestinian armed groups, (..) have been killed, injured, tortured and taken hostage, including children, and have been subjected to sexual and gender-based violence against civilians and members of the Israeli Defense Forces, including soldiers. Among them were considered combatants and should not have been targeted.
He added that this amounts to war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights laws.
The panel noted that it “identified patterns indicating that sexual assaults were not isolated cases, but had been committed in a similar manner in many places, particularly against Israeli women.”
The group also considers that “certain forms of sexual and gender-based violence are part of the operational procedures of the Israeli Defense Forces.”
The report came to this conclusion “considering the frequency, prevalence and severity of violations, including stripping and forced public nudity with the intention of humiliating society as a whole”.
– Israeli “starvation” of Gaza –
The Committee considers that the Israeli authorities, through their practices in Gaza, are “responsible for war crimes such as starvation as a means of warfare, deliberate killings, the deliberate directing of attacks against civilians and civilians, forced displacement, sexual violence, torture, inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and torture of persons.” Assaults on Dignity.”
The report stressed that hunger would affect the people of Gaza, especially children, “for decades”.
He added that Israel has imposed “a total blockade that amounts to collective punishment against civilians”. “Israel has used the blockade and the cessation of life’s necessities as a weapon,” a violation of international humanitarian law.
In the West Bank, the panel found, “Israeli forces committed sexual violence, torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, and attacks on a person’s dignity, all of which constitute war crimes.”
It concluded that “the Israeli government and forces permitted, encouraged and incited violent attacks by settlers against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.”
The panel based its report on remote interviews with victims and witnesses, dispatches to Turkey and Egypt, and thousands of pieces of information gleaned from public sources, satellite images and forensic reports.
The group asserted that Israel “obstructed investigations and blocked the panel’s access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
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