Lates DEALS on Amazon
A United Nations inquiry has found that Israel’s war on Gaza is a genocide, a landmark moment after nearly two years of war.
Navi Pillay, chairwoman of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday about its findings, which hold Israeli leaders – including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog – responsible.
Since October 2023, Israeli forces have bombed civilians in homes, shelters and safe zones.
More than half of those killed were women, children and elderly people.
Palestinians have suffered torture, sexual violence, forced displacement and cultural destruction.
Israel imposed a siege on Gaza, cutting off food, water, power and medical aid, starving Palestinians and ignoring orders of the International Court of Justice.
Israel deliberately inflicted conditions to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, including reproductive violence - where an IVF clinic was attacked to prevent births.
These are the same four crimes that the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to “take all measures to prevent” in January 2024.
Since that ruling, nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Navi Pillay is the Chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. She says the goal of the Israeli government is abundantly clear.
Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli diplomat, has told Al Jazeera that he wishes the Israeli public would be “more aware of not only the moral implications, but also the political implications” of the UN inquiry’s landmark findings that Israel’s war on Gaza is a genocide.
President Michael D Higgins has suggested Israel and countries that supply it with weapons should be excluded from the United Nations.
He described an independent UN commission report, which concluded that Israel has committed and continues to commit genocide against Palestinians, as a "very, very important document".
Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships, President Higgins said some of the EU's strongest members are "deciding to stay silent in watching emaciated children in what is a human, man-made, really atrocious infliction on people" in Gaza.
The UN Human Rights Council is holding a briefing on the severe crisis in Gaza.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese reiterated her finding that Israel is committing genocide.
She argued that international complicity and the granting of impunity to Israel are eroding the global legal order.
Albanese stated that certain nations and private sectors are enabling these acts through military and trade support, calling it legally and morally wrong.
She also condemned the unlawful US sanctions against her, warning they create a dangerous chilling effect for UN officials.
Her comments came amid growing international demands for action over the situation.
Israel's offensive on Gaza City is displacing thousands of Palestinians daily, forcing many to flee to al-Mawasi, a designated "safe zone" that is struggling to cope with the influx.
Conditions in the coastal area are dire, with exorbitant prices for necessities like tents and toilets, leaving many families without shelter.
The lack of clean water, food, and proper sanitation has led to the spread of diseases, whilst the approaching winter threatens to worsen the humanitarian crisis.
As Israel intensifies its assault on Gaza City, displaced Palestinians face an impossible choice between returning to areas under bombardment or enduring the harsh conditions in al-Mawasi.
Many view this forced displacement as part of a broader strategy to drive Palestinians out of Gaza entirely.
Israeli airstrikes are intensifying across Gaza, systematically destroying residential buildings and vital infrastructure. Thousands of Palestinians are forced to flee their homes, seeking shelter amid severe shortages of water, food, and medical supplies. Targeted strikes on schools and refugee camps have resulted in multiple civilian casualties. Displaced families face dire conditions, with overcrowded shelters and scarce resources increasing their suffering. The ongoing violence fuels fear and uncertainty as the humanitarian crisis deepens in Gaza.
Al Jazeera has investigated thousands of posts from social media documenting war crimes by Israeli soldiers in Gaza. What does this database expose about the last year of war – what’s being called the first “livestreamed genocide”?
Israel's Supreme Court has ruled the Israeli government is failing to provide sufficient food to Palestinians held in its jails. The three-judge bench has ordered authorities to take steps to improve their nutrition. Thousands of Palestinians have been held in Israeli jails for years, many without charge. Rights groups say more than 11,000 are currently detained.
That number has drastically risen since Israel launched its war on Gaza. Neve Gordon, professor of human rights and international humanitarian law at Queen Mary University of London, says the ruling falls short and many prisoners have recounted being starved and abused in Israeli detention.
Youth in the USA and Europe are more aware of the Atrocities being carried out by Israel in Gaza.
At a clinic in Gaza's al-Awda Hospital, mothers and children suffer severe malnutrition. One mother's newborn, weighing just 1.9kg, desperately needs milk. Another, Ru'a, is six months old and malnourished; her mother cannot breastfeed due to her own starvation.
With Baby formula unavailable, mothers struggle to keep their children alive amid airstrikes and famine.
A United Nations-backed global hunger monitor has determined that famine is now occurring in Gaza City and its surrounding area. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) had previously warned that Gaza was on the verge of famine, but now says for the first time that the events of the past few months – including a new Israeli offensive, increased displacement and weeks of total Israeli blockade of the territory – have made famine a reality in Gaza.
Genocide is an international crime defined as acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. These acts include killing members, causing serious harm, inflicting conditions calculated to bring about destruction, imposing measures to prevent births, and forcibly transferring children. The legal definition comes from the UN's Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948.
Israel’s Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has announced plans for a settlement project to divide the occupied West Bank in two and “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”.
Israel uses JCB diggers and bulldozers to destroy Palestinian homes and build illegal settlements in their place. This is a critical moment to demand that the UK government stops JCB selling its destructive machinery to Israel.
take action now: STOP JCB
