Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, a special UN committee said, as a Human Rights Watch report said Israel’s displacement of Gazans amounts to a “crime against humanity”.
Israel said HRW’s claims were “completely false”, insisting its “efforts are directed solely at dismantling Hamas’s terror capabilities and not at the people of Gaza”, though it had not yet responded to Thursday’s UN report.
The UN Special Committee pointed to “mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians”, covering the period from Hamas’ deadly October 7, 2023 attack in Israel to July.
The committee said Israel’s siege, blocking of aid, and targeted attacks and killing of civilians, despite UN and International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders, was “intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury”.
Israel’s warfare practices in Gaza “are consistent with the characteristics of genocide”, the committee said in the first use of the word by the UN in the context of the current war in Gaza.