'Israel's war on Gaza is genocide'

New York [US], September 17: A United Nations inquiry has found that Israel's war on Gaza is a genocide, a landmark moment after nearly two years of war.
Navi Pillay, chairwoman of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday about its findings, which hold Israeli leaders - including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog - responsible.
"We've identified the president, the prime minister and the former minister of defence based on their statements and the orders that they've given," Pillay said in an interview. "Because these three individuals were agents of the state, under the law, the state is held responsible. So we say it's [the] State of Israel that has committed genocide," she added.
According to the report, the commission found that, along with the statements made by the Israeli officials, there was "circumstantial evidence" that led to their findings of genocidal intent.
"The Commission concludes that the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip," the report found.
However, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs slammed the inquiry's findings as "fake" and alleged in a post on X that the report's authors were "serving as Hamas proxies".
"The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others," the ministry said. "Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry," it added.
This is not the first time that Israel has been formally accused of committing genocide in Gaza.
In 2023, South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice against Israel, accusing it of conduct in Gaza that was tantamount to genocide. That case is ongoing. In April, Amnesty International found that Israel was committing a "live-streamed genocide" in Gaza with the "specific intent" of wiping out Palestinians.
The report found that Israeli soldiers "intentionally killed" civilians in Gaza through the use of "wide impact munitions".
"The Commission therefore concluded that the Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination in the Gaza Strip by killing Palestinian civilians. While the number of victims is not relevant for an act to constitute an act of genocide, the Commission notes that the number of victims may be taken into consideration to establish genocidal intent," it added.
Israel's war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas led attacks in southern Israel, which killed 1,139 people and took more than 200 people captive, of whom 48 remain in Gaza. Israeli bombardments and ground operations across the enclave since then have killed at least 64,871 people and wounded 164,610, Gaza's Ministry of Health reported on Monday. (Agencies)
Source: Qatar Tribune