UN special committee finds Israel’s methods of war in Gaza consistent with genocide
The UN special committee to investigate Israeli practices has released a report that determines mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions are “intentionally imposed” on Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli army.
“Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life – food, water, and fuel,” the committee said in a press release.
“These statements along with the systematic and unlawful interference of humanitarian aid make clear Israel’s intent to instrumentalise life-saving supplies for political and military gains,” it continues.
The report’s findings – that Israel intentionally withholds aid from the Strip, uses starvation as a weapon of war and is careless in its infliction of civilian casualties – are consistent with other UN and humanitarian condemnations of Israel’s conduct.
The term “genocide”, however, is rarely applied to Israel’s war on Gaza by any body connected with the UN.
The report covers October 2023 to July and includes developments across the occupied Palestinian territory. It focuses, however, on the devastating violence in the Gaza Strip.
“Through its siege over Gaza, obstruction of humanitarian aid, alongside targeted attacks and killing of civilians and aid workers, despite repeated UN appeals, binding orders from the International Court of Justice and resolutions of the Security Council, Israel is intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury, using starvation as a method of war and inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian population,” the committee said.
Its report also documents how Israel’s assault has “unleashed an environmental catastrophe” by destroying essential services, such as water and sanitation, the impacts of which will be felt for a long time after any hypothetical ceasefire.
Also delved into by the report is Israel’s use of AI targeting in its bombing campaign and its impact on the high number of casualties of women and children.
“The Israeli military’s use of AI-assisted targeting, with minimal human oversight, combined with heavy bombs, underscores Israel’s disregard of its obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants and take adequate safeguards to prevent civilian deaths,” the committee said.
UN special committee’s ‘genocide’ findings match what is happening in Gaza
Everything mentioned completely reflects what’s happening on the ground. This forced starvation, sieging particular areas across the Gaza Strip.
Let’s start with the northern Gaza Strip, where for more than 40 days, no food and no water have been entering. No aid has been allowed to be distributed to Palestinians there. And there’s also the fact that people are unable to move for the fact that there are Israeli quadcopters targeting everything.
The fact that water sanitation plants are not working due to the lack of fuel and there’s only one hospital that is working with the bare minimum of equipment and staff. Also, there have been no civil defence teams or ambulances, and there are dozens of people still trapped under the rubble.
Until this moment, more than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed in the northern area since the latest siege began. Those are the people who were transferred to the hospital – not those who are trapped under the rubble or have been killed by Israeli quadcopters and laying on the ground where no ambulances or anyone could reach them.
It’s not only in the northern Gaza Strip, but even here in the south, in the central area, there has been no aid delivered. Palestinians are unable to feed their families or their children because everything’s expensive – mothers are saying there’s no baby formula milk, no eggs, no chicken or meat.
Constant Israeli shelling, quadcopters, air attacks – the methods Israel has been using against Palestinians – the mass killing, the forced starvation, the forced displacement, it is all affecting and adding misery to the lives of Palestinians.
UN report to strengthen legal action against Israel
The report from a special committee of the UN’s human rights office that found Israel’s war conduct in Gaza is “consistent with genocide” also calls on member states to refrain from abetting Israel’s violations of international law.
Rami Khouri, a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut, said that while the report was unlikely to push the international community “to do anything practical or even just symbolic”, its findings will boost legal actions against Israel going forward.
“The international community doesn’t have any way to force the Israelis to stop,” Khouri said. However, “every one of these reports will go to the international tribunals, it is not wasted effort, but it won’t pay a dividend right away”.
Khouri said that the UN Security Council was prevented from taking any action by the US power of veto, but the UN General Assembly could adopt resolutions on a number of issues including possibly suspending Israel from the inter-governmental body.
