UN inquiry finds Israel committed genocide in Gaza, accuses top officials of incitement
Independent commission says evidence of mass killings, blockades, forced displacement and measures to prevent births point to genocidal intent; Israel rejects findings and did not cooperate
A United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded Tuesday that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had incited those acts, saying the responsibility for atrocity crimes lies with Israel’s highest authorities.
Navi Pillay, head of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and a former International Criminal Court judge, said in a briefing that "Genocide is occurring in Gaza." The commission released a 72-page legal analysis that it described as the strongest finding to date that the conduct of Israeli forces and officials met the elements of genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The commission said it found evidence that Israeli authorities had committed four of the five acts listed in the Genocide Convention: killing members of the protected group; causing serious bodily or mental harm; deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group's physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births. It cited interviews with victims and witnesses, testimony from medical personnel, verified open-source documents and satellite imagery gathered since the war began.
The legal analysis names several senior Israeli figures, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and cites statements the commission said were direct evidence of genocidal intent. The report points to a November 2023 letter Netanyahu wrote to soldiers that the commission said compared the Gaza operation to a "holy war of total annihilation" described in the Hebrew Bible.
Pillay, who led a U.N. tribunal on Rwanda and will retire in November, said the patterns she sees in Gaza are comparable to those in Rwanda in 1994, when more than 1 million people were killed. "When I look at the facts in the Rwandan genocide, it's very, very similar to this. You dehumanize your victims," she said.
The commission said its findings also point to policies that have included large-scale killings, widespread forced displacement, the blocking of humanitarian aid, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, including a fertility clinic, which it said supported the conclusion that measures were in place to prevent births. The Gaza Health Ministry estimates the war has killed more than 64,000 people; a global hunger monitor has said parts of Gaza are suffering famine.
Israel has rejected the commission's findings and declined to cooperate with its inquiry. Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva accused the commission of pursuing a political agenda against Israel. Israeli officials cite the deadly October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures, as the context for military operations and assert a right to self-defense.
The Commission of Inquiry is independent and its analysis does not constitute an official U.N. position, though it adds to a chorus of rights groups and other bodies that have reached similar conclusions. The U.N. as an institution has not formally used the term genocide in this conflict, but the commission's report increases pressure on member states and institutions to respond. Israel is also defending itself against a genocide case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in The Hague; the ICJ in 2024 cited other Israeli statements in an emergency measures order but did not name Netanyahu.
International reactions to the report were swift and polarized. Human rights organizations and some governments called for urgent measures to halt what the commission described as ongoing atrocities and to ensure accountability. Israel and its diplomatic supporters rejected the findings and reiterated that any judicial or political process should consider the context of terrorist attacks and Israel's security claims.
The commission said it hoped its findings would prompt states to act. Pillay said she hoped the report would "open the minds of states" to the scale of the humanitarian and legal crisis in Gaza.
The commission’s publication comes amid ongoing litigation and diplomatic debate over how to respond to allegations of genocide and other grave breaches of international law. It provides a detailed legal framework and evidence package that could inform prosecutions, referrals, and policy decisions, even as governments and international institutions weigh political and legal options. Pillay reiterated that the commission's mandate was to establish facts and make legal findings based on evidence; she said those findings now rest with states and courts to consider further.
The report is likely to shape international discussions in the coming weeks at the United Nations, at the International Court of Justice and among governments weighing responses to the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the allegations of crimes under international law.