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An independent UN inquiry on Tuesday accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, the same day that Tel Aviv launched the first phase of a ground assault on Gaza City, threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of stranded Gazans. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory issued the most damning report of Israel’s post-Oct. 7 onslaught yet, concluding that the Israeli government and forces had committed “four of the five genocidal acts” defined in the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The report accused senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog, of inciting genocide. The commission of inquiry found that “genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur.” Two years after Israel waged war on the Strip, the 72-page report pointed to the scale of the killings, aid blockages, forced displacement and the destruction of a fertility clinic in the territory to support the genocide finding.
As expected, Israel immediately rejected the report, with the Foreign Ministry describing it as “fake.” “Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry,” it added in a post on X.
But while the report does not speak on behalf of the UN, it comes at a time when more evidence is coming out of Gaza, underlining the fact that Israel is deliberately targeting civilians, using starvation as a weapon, preventing the flow of aid and destroying all means of life in the enclave. The death total has crossed the 64,000 mark, but this figure does not include the tens of thousands who remain missing and are believed to be under the rubble.
As expected, Israel immediately rejected the report, with the Foreign Ministry describing it as ‘fake’
Osama Al-Sharif
It is not only this UN body that has concluded that Israel is committing genocide. Last month, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, a global network of more than 500 academics specializing in genocide studies, adopted a resolution declaring that Israel’s military actions and policies in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide, as set out in the Genocide Convention.
Also, several leading human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Israel’s B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Amnesty described Israel’s military campaign as a “live-streamed genocide.” Groups like Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders have also condemned Israel for its war crimes and genocidal acts in Gaza.
In each case, Israel has rejected the accusations, such as by describing claims that famine was spreading in Gaza as “blood libel,” while accusing these organizations and bodies of empowering Hamas as Tel Aviv was engaged in self-defense.
Israel is facing allegations of committing genocide in Gaza before the International Court of Justice. However, the court has not given an indication as to when it will rule on the case brought by South Africa.
Despite mounting evidence that Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza is a genocidal one, there are no signs that it will end soon
Osama Al-Sharif
Last month, the International Commission of Jurists issued a strong warning against Israel’s plan for a complete military takeover of Gaza City. It condemned the inevitable forcible transfer of nearly 1 million civilians, the massive destruction, and the further war crimes and crimes against humanity expected from such an operation.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court has been eerily silent on the mounting evidence that senior Israeli officials and even individual soldiers have committed or been complicit in war crimes, either directly or indirectly. Israel and the US, including American lawmakers, have been engaged in an intimidation campaign against both the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice in a bid to derail any further investigation of Israeli crimes in Gaza. Israel has also attacked the UN Human Rights Council and smeared Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, whom it accuses of “antisemitism.”
Despite mounting evidence that Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza is a genocidal one, there are no signs that it will end soon. Furthermore, even if the war were to end today and accurate figures of the carnage were to emerge, it is not easy to see how Israel can be made accountable under international law. The current US administration has become complicit in war crimes by continuing to provide Israel with diplomatic and political protection, while supplying it with billions of dollars-worth of lethal weapons to be used without oversight against 2 million hapless civilians.
But the tide is turning. While international bodies appear crippled for now as a result of US-Israeli intimidation, individual countries are beginning to take action. Most European countries have said they will respect the International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Netanyahu and others. Spain and Belgium have imposed sanctions and arms embargoes on Israel and are looking into requests to charge Israeli soldiers involved in carrying out war crimes in Gaza.
Even Netanyahu is now admitting that Israel will face prolonged “isolation” over Gaza. But the fact remains that, without accountability for the war crimes amounting to genocide Israel is committing in Gaza, the current global legal order faces collapse. The latest body of evidence against Israel brings feeble hope that a time of reckoning will eventually arrive.
- Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. X: @plato010