A United Nations commission of independent experts has issued a damning conclusion that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, urging Western states to halt the flow of weapons and military aid. The finding, released Tuesday in a sweeping report, places Israel among the few governments in modern history formally accused of carrying out the crime of genocide as defined under international law.
“The commission concludes on reasonable grounds that the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have committed and are continuing to commit the following actus reus of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” the UN Commission of Inquiry stated, citing four of the five genocidal acts recognized under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The acts identified include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions intended to destroy the group, and measures to prevent births. The only element not found was the forcible transfer of children. According to the Convention, committing just one genocidal act is sufficient to constitute genocide.
Evidence presented in the report ranges from large-scale killing to systematic assaults on essential infrastructure. The commission cited an Israeli attack in December 2023 on Gaza’s largest fertility clinic, which reportedly destroyed 4,000 embryos and 1,000 sperm samples and fertilized eggs, as an example of measures designed to prevent births. At least 18,000 Palestinian children have been killed in the assault, underscoring the staggering toll.
Commission chair Navi Pillay, former UN high commissioner for human rights, emphasized that the evidence demonstrates intent. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention,” Pillay said.
The report highlighted statements by senior Israeli officials as explicit indications of genocidal intent. Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in October 2023, ordered “a complete siege” on Gaza with “no electricity, no water, no food, no fuel” entering the territory. Declaring “We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly,” Gallant set the stage for a blockade that the commission said has caused widespread starvation and led to the deaths of more than 400 people, including at least 145 children.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also dismissed the idea of civilian protection, stating that Gaza’s entire population was “responsible” and that there were no “civilians who were not aware and not involved” in the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoked biblical extermination, telling soldiers to “remember what Amalek did to you.”
Pillay directly placed accountability on Israel’s leadership. “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,” she said.
The commission’s findings outline the catastrophic scale of violence. More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the military campaign. Hospitals, schools, and refugee camps have been attacked, with doctors reporting children suffering gunshot wounds to the head and chest, raising suspicions of deliberate targeting. Testimonies from soldiers also describe orders to shoot civilians.
Living conditions in Gaza have collapsed under bombardment and siege. Nearly one million people remain in Gaza City under constant strikes, famine conditions, and displacement orders, according to UN aid officials. Forty percent of the city’s residents have fled to the coastal encampment at al-Mawasi, declared a “safe zone” but repeatedly struck by Israeli forces.
Journalist Hani Mahmoud described the desperation in Gaza City: “They have to run out of their homes in the middle of the night with nothing other than the clothes that they’re wearing, seeking shelter towards the coast of Gaza City. Fighter jets are hovering at a very dangerously low level in the past hour or two. The sky remains filled with the constant hum of drones, leaving residents unable to rest.” Mahmoud added, “What we are witnessing is a systematic, unfolding terror inflicted on this population. They live in constant fear that their building will be next and they will lose everything and find themselves on the road again to displacement.”
The legal obligations under the Genocide Convention are clear, Pillay stressed. “It’s not a choice. It’s an obligation that states have under the Genocide Convention, and they are all parties to that.” In an op-ed in The New York Times, she warned: “Every state has an obligation to prevent genocide wherever it occurs. That obligation requires action: halting the transfer of weapons and military support used in genocidal acts, ensuring unimpeded humanitarian assistance, stopping the mass displacement and destruction, and using all available diplomatic and legal means to stop the killing.” She concluded, “To do nothing is not neutrality. It is complicity.”
Israel has rejected the UN commission’s findings. Its ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Danny Meron, denounced the report as biased. He said the panel’s “cherry-picked” conclusions “promotes a narrative serving Hamas and its supporters in attempting to delegitimize and demonize the state of Israel. The report falsely accuses Israel of genocidal intent, an allegation it cannot substantiate.”
The implications extend beyond the UN. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The International Court of Justice is already hearing a genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel. The commission’s confirmation of genocide may strengthen those proceedings.
At the same time, the UN Human Rights Council adjusted its agenda to debate an Israeli strike on Hamas leadership in Qatar, condemned as a violation of sovereignty by Secretary-General António Guterres. Rosemary DiCarlo, UN political affairs chief, told the Security Council the strike was a “serious threat to regional peace and security” and undermined mediation efforts.
The UN report arrives as Israel launches a ground offensive to capture Gaza City, killing at least 68 Palestinians in one day. With displacement, famine, and bombardment intensifying, the commission’s warning reverberates across international law: governments cannot remain passive. “When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity,” Pillay said.
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