UN Investigators Accuse Israel of Committing ‘Genocide’ in Gaza

United Nations investigators have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, asserting that its actions aim to destroy the Palestinian people. The report also blamed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for incitement.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which operates independently of the UN General Assembly, published the report on Tuesday. Its chief, Navi Pillay, told AFP:

“Genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur. The responsibility lies with the State of Israel.”

The COI, tasked with investigating the human rights situation in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, released its latest report nearly two years after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians.

The COI concluded that Israeli authorities and forces committed four of the five genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention:

1. Killing members of the group
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm
3. Deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group in whole or in part
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births

Investigators said explicit statements from Israeli civilian and military authorities, combined with the pattern of conduct by Israeli forces, indicated that these acts were committed with intent to destroy Palestinians as a group.

The COI report holds Netanyahu, Herzog, and Gallant accountable for incitement of genocide and notes that Israeli authorities have failed to act against them.

“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons,” said Pillay, 83, a former South African judge who previously headed the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and served as UN Human Rights Chief.

Although the COI is not a legal body, its findings can exert diplomatic pressure and serve as evidence for future court proceedings. Pillay confirmed that the commission is cooperating with the International Criminal Court (ICC): “We’ve shared thousands of pieces of information with them.”

In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to prevent and punish direct and public incitement to commit genocide in Gaza. Four months later, the ICC issued international arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Global Response

• Israel rejected the report, calling it “distorted and false” and demanded the immediate abolition of the COI.
• Many NGOs and independent UN experts have previously accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.
• The UN has not officially labelled the conflict as genocide, although its aid chief urged decisive action in May 2025, and its rights chief recently denounced “genocidal rhetoric” from Israeli officials.
• The US, under former President Trump, sanctioned two ICC judges and two prosecutors last month, barring them from entering the US and freezing their assets.

“The international community cannot stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity.”

The COI emphasised that ongoing displacement, widespread civilian deaths, and deliberate targeting constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law, urging immediate global attention.