Geneva (agencies)
A UN investigation committee concluded yesterday that Israel committed crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza, including “genocide.”
The report of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory constitutes the first in-depth investigation conducted by the United Nations into the course of the war that broke out on October 7th.
The committee found that Israel committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
The report also indicated that there was a “deliberate and direct attack on the civilian population” in the Gaza Strip.
The committee stressed “the targeting of Palestinian men and boys through crimes against humanity such as genocide and gender-based persecution, in addition to murders, forced transfers, torture, and inhuman or cruel treatment.”
For its part, Israel was quick to reject the report’s conclusions, accusing the committee of practicing “systematic discrimination” against it.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Merav Elon-Shahar, confirmed in a statement that the investigation committee “proved once again that its actions are all in service of a political agenda focused on opposing Israel.”
Unlike genocide, crimes against humanity do not necessarily target a specific population group, but may target any civilians, according to the United Nations. But to characterize them as such, they must come within the context of large-scale attacks, unlike war crimes, which may be isolated incidents.
The UN Human Rights Council established the unprecedented commission of inquiry in May 2021 to investigate potential violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
“It is necessary to hold everyone who committed crimes accountable,” said Navi Pillay, head of the investigation committee.
Pillay was previously a human rights official at the United Nations and a judge at the International Criminal Court, stressing: “Israel must immediately stop its operations and military attacks on Gaza.”
The Committee considered that the Israeli authorities, through their practices in Gaza, are responsible for war crimes such as starvation as a means of war, premeditated killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forced transfer, sexual violence, torture, inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention, and attacks on the dignity of the person.
The report stressed that hunger will affect the population of Gaza, especially children, “for decades,” adding that Israel imposed “a complete blockade that amounts to collective punishment against the civilian population. Israel used the blockade and withholding of the necessities of life as a weapon,” which also constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law.
In the West Bank, the committee found that “Israeli forces committed sexual violence, torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, and attacks on the dignity of the person, all of which are considered war crimes.”
It concluded that the Israeli government and forces permitted, promoted and incited a campaign of violent attacks by settlers against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.
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