A UN commission concludes that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Barcelona"We have come to the conclusion that a genocide is taking place in Gaza, and the responsibility lies with the State of Israel." With this forceful statement, he concluded the debate. Navi Pillay, head of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Territories, which presented the results of an investigation commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council at a press conference on Tuesday. The investigators, who analyzed the events from October 7, 2023, to July of this year, cite the scale of the massacres committed by Israel in Gaza, the blocking of humanitarian aid, forced displacement, and episodes such as the bombing of a fertility clinic, to support the accusation.

The commission has deemed four of the five actions that define genocide proven: murder, inflicting serious physical or mental harm, imposing conditions to lead to the destruction of a people, and imposing measures to prevent births. This joins the conclusion already reached by the International Association of Genocide Students (AIGS), in addition to various human rights organizations, some of them IsraeliBut the report of this commission has a particular relevance because it has been entrusted to it by the most important UN body in matters of human rights and it can constitute crucial evidence in the open trial at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which has already issued Arrest warrant issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The commission's report urges Israel to "end the genocide," "implement an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip, and "end its policy of starvation." At the same time, according to this legal analysis, the Commission recommends to UN member states to cease all possible cooperation with Israel in carrying out this crime and, among other things, "stop the transfer of arms and other equipment, including fuel, to the State of Israel." UN Human Rights Council reports are non-binding but can trigger international sanctions and guide the foreign policy of many governments and organizations such as the European Union, as they determine non-compliance with international law obligations. However, it is highly unlikely that it will prompt a UN Security Council resolution to force the Netanyahu government to end the genocide, due to the US veto in that body.

"Today we are witnessing in real time how the promise of 'Never Again' [made after the Holocaust] is being broken and tested before the eyes of the world. The ongoing genocide in Gaza is a moral outrage and a legal emergency," said Pillay, who was a judge at the Geneva conference. "Responsibility for these heinous crimes rests with Israeli authorities at the highest levels, who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for nearly two years with the specific intent of destroying the Palestinian people in Gaza." Pillay explained that the decision was based on statements and orders from Netanyahu himself; Israeli President Isaac Herzog; and Yoav Gallant, who was Israel's defense minister in October 2023 and until November 2024. "These three individuals are agents of the state, which is why we say that the State of Israel has committed genocide."

Genocide is a crime defined in the 1948 Convention as "the attempt to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such." Pillay insisted that responsibility for the atrocities "lies at the highest levels of the Israeli authorities, who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for nearly two years with the specific intention of destroying the Palestinian people in Gaza."

All of this was made public as the Israeli army intensified its bombing of Gaza City tonight, the target of its final offensive on the Strip. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced early Tuesday an escalation of the bombings: "Gaza is burning." "We will not falter and we will not back down until the mission is accomplished," he declared. The official death toll of civilians currently stands at 41.