A United Nations Commission of Inquiry has concluded that Israel committed genocide in Gaza and top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts. The commission, headed by former International Criminal Court judge Navi Pillay, cites evidence of the scale of killings, aid blockages, forced displacement, and destruction of a fertility clinic to support its findings.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Meron, called the report “scandalous” and “fake”, claiming it was authored by “Hamas proxies”. However, the commission found that statements by Netanyahu and other officials are “direct evidence of genocidal intent”.
The commission also concluded that Israel committed four acts of genocide: killing, causing serious bodily harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about destruction, and imposing measures intended to prevent births. The report compares the situation in Gaza to the 1994 Rwanda genocide, where over 1 million people were killed.
Israel is fighting a genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, but it has rejected such accusations, citing its right to self-defence. The UN has not yet used the term genocide, but mounting pressure is building for it to do so.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-inquiry-finds-top-israeli-officials-incited-genocide-gaza-2025-09-16