GENEVA: A UN investigation concluded on Wednesday that Israel has committed crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza, including that of "extermination", while saying Israelhas committed war crimes.
The independent Commission of Inquiry's report is the United Nations' first in-depth investigation into the events of the war that erupted on October 7.
It found that Israel had committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL).
The report noted "a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza."
"The commission found that the crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed," it added.
Israel rejected the conclusions by accusing the UN commission of "systematic anti-Israeli discrimination".
The Israeli army launched a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip that has left more than 37,000 people dead, the majority of them civilians, according to the territory's health ministry.
The unprecedented Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged violations of IHL and IHRL in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"It is imperative that all those who have committed crimes be held accountable," said the commission's chair Navi Pillay, a former UN rights chief and an ex-International Criminal Court judge.
"Israel must immediately stop its military operations and attacks in Gaza. "Hamas and Palestinian armed groups must immediately cease rocket attacks and release all captives."
In their actions in Gaza, the commission found the Israeli authorities "responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, physical violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity".
Starvation will affect the Gaza population, particularly children, "for decades to come", the report said, while "the siege it imposed... constitutes collective punishment and reprisal against the civilian population, both of which are clear violations of IHL."
The report is based on interviews with victims and witnesses conducted remotely, and in Türkiye and Egypt, and through studying thousands of verified open-source items, satellite imagery and forensic medical reports, the commission said. — AFP
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