Top UN legal investigators conclude Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza
Most authoritative report by the UN on genocide paves way for ICJ ruling, authors say
The UN’s investigative body on Palestine and Israel ruled on Tuesday that Israel is guilty of the crime of genocide in Gaza, in the most authoritative pronouncement to date.
It provided a 72-page report, prepared by the UN commission of inquiry on Palestine and Israel, which finds Israel has committed four of the five acts prohibited under the 1948 Genocide Convention, and that Israeli leaders had the intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a group.
“For the finding on Israel's responsibility for its conduct in Gaza, the commission used the legal standard set forth by the International Court of Justice. This is therefore the most authoritative finding emanating from the United Nations to date,” the commission's chair, Navi Pillay, said.
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The finding echoes reports by Palestinian, Israeli and international rights groups that have reached the same conclusion over the past year, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
This is the first comprehensive legal probe by a UN body, serving as an indicator of a judgment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is currently hearing a case by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide.
The ICJ case is expected to take several years to be concluded. “For the finding on Israel's responsibility for its conduct in Gaza, the commission used the legal standard set forth by the International Court of Justice.
This is therefore the most authoritative finding emanating from the United Nations to date,” Pillay said.
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UN News:
Gaza: Top independent rights probe alleges Israel committed genocide
16 September 2025
Peace and Security
Senior independent rights investigators appointed by the Human Rights Council alleged on Tuesday that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, a charge flatly rejected by Tel Aviv.
In a new report published against the backdrop of intensifying Israeli military operations in Gaza City, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, urged Israel and all countries to fulfil their obligations under international law “to end the genocide” and punish those responsible.
Details:
“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” insisted Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”
Israel's Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Danny Hanon, dismissed the Commission's "cherry-picked" findings outright, maintaining that the 70-plus page report "promotes a narrative serving Hamas and its supporters in attempting to delegitimize and demonize the state of Israel. The report falsely accuses Israel of genocidal intent, an allegation it cannot substantiate."
At a press conference in Geneva, the Commission of Inquiry's members Ms. Pillay and Chris Sidoti - who are not UN staff but instead appointed by the Human Rights Council’s 47 Member States - explained that their investigations into the war in Gaza beginning with Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023 had led to the conclusion that Israeli authorities and security forces “committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”.
These acts are:
- killing,
- causing serious bodily or mental harm,
- deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians, and
- imposing measures intended to prevent births.
Ms. Pillay maintained that responsibility for the atrocity crimes “lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons”, amid “explicit statements” denigrating Palestinians by Israeli civilian and military authorities.
The Commission also analysed conduct of Israeli authorities and the Israeli security forces in Gaza, “including imposing starvation and inhumane conditions of life for Palestinians in Gaza…genocidal intent was the only reasonable inference that could be concluded from the nature of their operations”, the panel said.
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The whole report is here:
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