UN Report: "Israel" is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip

The United Nations Human Rights Council stated that the occupation has committed genocide against the Palestinians, and that its senior leaders have incited genocide, in the first report issued by the United Nations acknowledging genocide.

The Council described the investigation conducted by a committee established by the United Nations as the most reliable conclusion of the organization to date, and that the occupation has committed four acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip.

These acts include: killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing serious physical and psychological harm to them, deliberately imposing living conditions on the group that are intended to lead to their total or partial physical destruction, and imposing measures aimed at preventing births within the group, according to the investigation.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, nearly 65,000 Palestinians have been martyred since October 7.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated in a statement released on Tuesday: "Israel firmly rejects the distorted and false report, and calls for the immediate cancellation of the investigation committee."

The report was issued by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which continues its work to this day and was established by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2021, chaired by Navi Pillay, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The committee provided several examples of Palestinian civilians, journalists, and health and humanitarian workers who were "directly targeted and killed" in Gaza, noting that these crimes occurred in homes, hospitals, schools, and places of worship.

The report cited the incident of the martyrdom of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and several of her family members in January 2024, as an example of the occupation forces killing civilians despite having clear knowledge of the presence of Palestinian civilians on evacuation routes.

The report stated: "They fired and killed civilians, some of whom were children waving makeshift white flags."

It added: "Some children, including infants, were shot in the head by snipers."

In addition to shooting civilians, the committee mentioned in its report that the occupation forces deliberately killed Palestinian civilians in Gaza using wide-impact munitions that caused a large number of martyrs.

It pointed out that these munitions were used with prior knowledge that they would lead to the deaths of civilians, stating in the report: "The victims of the bombardment were not targeted as individual civilians separately, but were collectively targeted because of their identity as Palestinians."

It stated: "Israel has used the deprivation of Palestinians of essential life necessities as a weapon, by cutting off supplies of water, food, electricity, fuel, and other basic materials, including humanitarian aid."

In August, a UN-backed committee announced a famine in the city of Gaza and its surrounding areas, confirming that more than half a million people were affected by it.

The UN investigation released on Tuesday stated that the occupation's allowance of a limited amount of aid into Gaza is nothing more than a facade to deceive the international community.

The investigation also raised questions about the objectives of the occupation's aggression, confirming that "the widespread and deliberate targeting of Palestinian children" is evidence that military operations are not only carried out to defeat Hamas but also with the aim of "physically destroying the Palestinian group, by eliminating not only the children of the present but also the possibility of them having children in the future."

The investigation added that children in Gaza are suffering psychologically and physically, quoting one doctor as saying: "The essence of childhood has been destroyed in Gaza."

It also noted that the spread of famine has made children "unable to develop speech or reach normal stages of linguistic development."

The committee confirmed that the occupation has refused to allow infant formula and special foods for infants into Gaza, leading to "the starvation of newborns and young children."

It considered this to be "strong evidence of an intent to destroy the population."

The report revealed that the occupation forces "committed acts of sexual violence based on gender," including "rape, sexual torture, and other forms of sexual violence."

The report stated that this "is manifested through content published by Israeli soldiers on social media, where they clearly showed themselves committing acts aimed at dehumanizing Palestinians."

The investigation noted that it heard from many Palestinians who said they were subjected to gender-based sexual violence while in detention.

The report accused the head of the occupation government, Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, of inciting genocide.

It stated: "Since October 7, 2023, Israeli officials have made statements indicating their intention to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza as a group."

It added: "Israeli political and