A United Nations commission has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, in a report that names Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as having incited atrocity crimes.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said Israel has carried out four of the five acts laid out in the Genocide Convention. These include killing Palestinians in large numbers, inflicting serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately imposing inhumane conditions that cause death, and preventing births.
The final category was linked to the destruction of around 4,000 embryos and 1,000 sperm samples during an Israeli strike on Gaza’s Al-Basma IVF clinic. The commission also accused Israeli forces of sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and “sexualised torture”, and claimed children had been deliberately targeted “with the intention to kill them”.
Navi Pillay, the chair of the commission, said responsibility lay “with the Israeli authorities at the highest echelons”. She said Israeli leaders had been warned repeatedly about the consequences of their military operations but continued regardless.
The report states that Israel has “flagrantly” ignored international warnings, destroyed Gaza’s healthcare system and engaged in a “pattern of collective punishment”. Nearly 65,000 Palestinians are reported dead by Gaza’s health ministry, the majority women, children and elderly people.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the findings, calling the commission members “Hamas proxies” and describing the report as “distorted and false”. It said the conclusions relied on fabrications and Hamas propaganda.
The commission has urged states to halt arms sales to Israel and close the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — an Israel-US backed body where hundreds have been killed near aid distribution points. It said countries have a “legal obligation” to act to prevent genocide.
This is the first time a UN body has formally alleged genocide in Gaza. Previous warnings had been issued by individual UN officials, while the International Association of Genocide Scholars this month also passed a resolution that Israel’s conduct crossed the threshold.
The International Criminal Court has already issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant over alleged war crimes, including starvation as a method of warfare. Netanyahu dismissed the warrants as “antisemitic”.
International reaction remains divided. The US has reaffirmed support for Israel, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio visiting Jerusalem this week, despite earlier expressing unease over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar. The UK government has said it has “not concluded” that Israel intends to commit genocide.
The commission concluded that Israel’s conduct reflects “an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza in whole or in part”, meeting the definition of genocide under international law.
