An International Commission for Independent Research of the UN accused Israel of committing a “genocide” in the Gaza Strip from the beginning of the war on October 7, 2023, with the “intention of destroying” the Palestinians, this Tuesday, September 16.
The commission, which is not expressed in the name of the UN and is strongly criticized by Israel, has reached “until the conclusion that a genocide (SAI) occurs in Gaza and continuous (AIT) to act” in this Palestinian territory, said its president, Navi Pillay. In a statement published after the publication of the investigation, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced a “partial and false” investigation.
“The responsibility is the responsibility of the State of Israel,” he added when presenting a new report. Its publication occurs almost two years after the beginning of the war, launched by the unprecedented attack in Hamas on October 7, 2023 in Israel. Since then, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sworn to destroy the Islamist movement that took power in 2007 in Gaza.
“Four of the five genocidal acts”
The Investigation Commission concluded that the Israeli authorities and security forces have committed “four of the five genocidal acts” defined by the 1948 Convention for the prevention and repression of the crime of the genocide.
Namely: “Murder of group members; serious attack against the physical or mental integrity of the group members; intentional submission of the group to the conditions of existence that have to lead to their total or partial physical destruction; and measures aimed at hindering births within the group.”
This commission concluded that the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the former Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, had “encouraged to commit a genocide and that the Israeli authorities (they had not taken” to avoid them.
“Intention to destroy”
“It is clear that there is an intention to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza to the acts that meet the criteria established in the Genocide Convention,” Mrs. Pillay said, who was president of the International Criminal Court of Rwanda and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The highest Israeli leaders “orchestrated a genocidal campaign,” added the 83 -year -old South African, former UN Commissioner for Human Rights. The commission is not a legal body, but its reports can increase diplomatic pressure and are used to collect evidence that courts can use.
The Commission concluded a cooperation agreement with the International Criminal Court (CCC) with which “we have shared thousands of information,” Pillay told AFP.
“The international community cannot remain silent in front of the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. When manifest signs and evidence of genocide appear, the absence of action to put it equivalent to a complicity,” Pillay said.
The military retaliation campaign in the Palestinian territory left almost 65,000 dead, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip, put under the authority of Hamas, the data considered reliable by the UN.
Mandates claimed against Netanyahu
Since the beginning of the war, Israel has been repeatedly accused of committing a genocide in Gaza, by several NGOs, independent experts of the UN, and even before international justice, at the initiative of South Africa. Israeli authorities have always strongly rejected these accusations.
The UN did not describe the situation of genocide, but the head of humanitarian operations urged world leaders in mid -May to “act to prevent a genocide.”
In The Hague, the International Court of Justice (CIJ) had summoned Israel in January 2024 to avoid any act of genocide. Four months later, the CPI prosecutor had asked that arrest orders against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, suspect of crimes against humanity and war crimes be delivered.
Since then, the ICC has been in the sights of Washington, who has taken measures against the magistrates who authorized the court to issue these arrest orders, in particular the prohibition of entry into the American soil and the frost of the assets that are maintained in the United States.
Source: BFM TV
