Israel committed crime of ‘extermination’ in Gaza, says UN investigation
Palestinians walk past debris a day after an operation by the Israeli Special Forces in the Nuseirat camp, 9 June 2024
Middle East Eye reports on 12 June 2024:
Israel is guilty of a committing the crime of “extermination” in Gaza, as well as the crimes of sexual violence, torture, and starvation as a weapon of war, along with other war crimes and crimes against humanity, UN investigators have found.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel also said Palestinian groups were guilty of war crimes, particularly over the taking of hostages.
The report covers the period between the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities and 31 December. During those 12 weeks Israel began a ferocious war on the Gaza Strip that has now killed more than 37,000 people.
Among the war crimes that the COI said Israel was guilty of since 7 October were:
Extermination
Gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys
Murder
Forcible transfer
Torture
Inhuman and cruel treatment
It also found that Israeli security forces had enforced “public stripping and nudity intended to humiliate the community at large and accentuate the subordination of an occupied people.” “It is imperative that all those who have committed crimes be held accountable,” said Navi Pillay, chair of the commission.
“The only way to stop the recurring cycles of violence, including aggression and retribution by both sides, is to ensure strict adherence to international law.”
Pillay said Israel must “immediately stop its military operations and attacks in Gaza, including the assault on Rafah”. The report also found widespread abuses by Palestinian armed groups, including torture, hostage-taking and acts of gender-based and sexual violence against civilians and security personnel.
“Hamas and Palestinian armed groups must immediately cease rocket attacks and release all hostages,” said Pillay. “The taking of hostages constitutes a war crime.”
Israel does not cooperate with the commission, which it says has an anti-Israel bias. The COI says Israel obstructs its work and prevented investigators from accessing both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israel condemned the report and accused the commission of “systematic anti-Israeli discrimination”. The COI “has once again proven that its actions are all in the service of a narrow-led political agenda against Israel”, said Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. Hamas did not immediately comment.