UN Commission Accuses Israel of Genocide in Gaza; Israel Calls Report “Scandalous”

A United Nations Commission of Inquiry has concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, holding top officials — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — responsible for incitement.

The findings come as Israel begins a new ground offensive in Gaza City. Israel has rejected the report, describing it as “scandalous” and “fake.”

“Today we witness in real time how the promise of ‘never again’ is broken and tested in the eyes of the world. The ongoing genocide in Gaza is a moral outrage and a legal emergency,”
said Navi Pillay, head of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and a former International Criminal Court judge, at a Geneva press briefing (Reuters).

Pillay added that Israeli authorities “at the highest echelons” had orchestrated a campaign with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.

Report Findings

The commission’s 72-page legal analysis is its strongest statement to date on the war. While the inquiry operates independently and does not speak for the UN as a whole, it has sharply escalated international scrutiny. The UN itself has not officially adopted the term “genocide,” but pressure is mounting.

According to Reuters, the report documents large-scale killings, aid blockages, forced displacement, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure — including a fertility clinic — as evidence of genocidal acts. It also cites statements by Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as “direct evidence of genocidal intent.”

One example referenced is Netanyahu’s November 2023 letter to Israeli soldiers, which compared the Gaza operation to a “holy war of total annihilation” in the Hebrew Bible.

Under international law, committing even one of five acts can qualify as genocide. The commission concluded that Israel had carried out four:

• Killing;

• Causing serious bodily or mental harm;

• Inflicting conditions of life designed to destroy the group;

• Imposing measures to prevent births.

Israel’s Response

Israeli leaders have forcefully rejected the findings. President Isaac Herzog, who was named in the report, said the commission was “morally bankrupt,” accusing it of ignoring Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack that killed 1,200 people and led to 251 hostages being taken.

Daniel Meron, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, dismissed the inquiry as the work of “Hamas proxies,” adding:

“Israel categorically rejects the libellous rant published today by this commission of inquiry.”

Israel is already facing a separate genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which it has denounced as illegitimate, citing its right to self-defence.

Human Toll

Since the war began, more than 64,000 people in Gaza have been killed, according to local health authorities. A global food monitor has also warned that parts of the territory are suffering from famine.