UN inquiry report finds Israel committed genocide in Gaza: ‘you dehumanise your victims’
Israel rejects ‘libellous rant’ after UN Commission of Inquiry investigators conclude that PM Netanyahu is among those responsible
A United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded on Tuesday that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had incited these acts – accusations that Israel called scandalous.
The report came on the same day Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said “Gaza is burning” as a major new ground offensive began.
Israel started its long-threatened push into the heart of Gaza City after weeks of fatal air strikes and incursions into its outskirts.
In Tuesday’s report were examples of the scale of Israel’s killings, aid blockages, forced displacement and the destruction of a fertility clinic, backing up the inquiry’s genocide finding and adding its voice to rights groups and others that have reached the same conclusion.
Hours earlier, visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed Israel’s goal of eradicating Hamas in Gaza.
“Genocide is occurring in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, head of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and a former International Criminal Court judge.