The “deliberate” use of heavy weapons by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip constitutes an “intentional and direct attack against the civilian population”, according to a new report by an independent commission supported by the United Nations.
Navi Pillay, chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said on Wednesday that Israel has committed crimes against humanity, forced starvation, extermination, murder and inhumane and cruel treatment of Palestinians. She also accused Palestinian groups of war crimes.
While presenting the report to the UN Human Rights Council, Pillay said the Israeli army operating in Gaza “forcibly transferred almost the entire population to a small, dangerous and uninhabitable compound ” and had used heavy weapons in densely populated areas “in an intentional and uninhabitable manner.” direct attack against the civilian population.
Pillay said the commission concluded that specific forms of sexual and gender-based violence were part of Israeli forces’ operational procedures.
“Although Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that their operations in Gaza are aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing hostages, neither goal has been largely achieved at the cost of thousands of lives,” she said. declared.
“We found that Israeli forces committed sexual and gender-based violence with the intention of further humiliating and subjugating the Palestinian community. Palestinian women have been targeted and subjected to sexual violence and harassment online and in person.
“Men and boys have been victims of specific acts of persecution, including sexual and gender-based violence amounting to torture and inhumane and cruel treatment. »
Pillay also noted that daily attacks in Gaza should not distract from a parallel wave of violence in the occupied West Bank, where U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said Tuesday that the situation “deteriorates considerably”.
More Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since the current war began in October than in any other period on record, Pillay told the council.
War crimes committed by Palestinian groups
Pillay said Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups also committed numerous war crimes on October 7 during their attacks on southern Israel.
She listed them as follows: intentional attacks against civilians, murder or intentional homicide, torture, sexual violence, inhumane or cruel treatment and hostage-taking.
The commission, it said, “identified telltale patterns of sexual violence and concluded that these were not isolated but perpetrated in similar ways in similar locations, primarily against Israeli women.” The commission’s report said reports of rape could not be independently verified.
At @UN Human Rights Council, Navi Pillay, chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, reiterated calls for a ceasefire and called for the end of the siege #Gaza.#HRC56 pic.twitter.com/DYdnvWEGtc
— United Nations Human Rights Council 📍 #HRC56 (@UN_HRC) June 19, 2024
She warned that “the exploitation of sexual violence in conflict by all parties for political propaganda risks diverting attention from the experiences and needs of survivors and fueling long-standing hostilities” .
Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 have killed more than 37,000 people, 40 percent of them children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The October 7 attacks in Israel left 1,139 dead.
“Overwhelming enormity of the tragedy”
This is the first in-depth UN investigation into events since October 7 until the end of 2023. The commission was established by the Human Rights Council in 2021.
Its mandate is permanent and without time limit and it benefits from a leader who is a former UN high commissioner for human rights and a former South African judge, according to Tel Aviv Tribune’s James Bays.
“She said the enormity of the tragedy overwhelmed the commission. The rules state that they are supposed to produce a report of up to 10,700 pages. They produced this report, but they added two very large separate annexes,” he reported from Geneva.
“One is about what happened on October 7 when she claims war crimes were committed by Hamas and other Palestinian groups and the other is about what happened to Palestinians in Gaza after the October 7, where she claims that war crimes were committed by the Israelis. »
Pillay told Tel Aviv Tribune it was “tragic” that Israel blocked the commission from visiting victims in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
“What I found particularly disturbing is that they are not only denying us access to Israel and Gaza, but to all of Palestine; we also need to talk to the victims there,” she said.
The commission will publish further reports on attacks on health facilities in Gaza and the effects of the war on education..
Ibrahim Khraishi, Palestinian ambassador to the UN, thanked the commission for its report and condemned Israel’s abuses during the “genocidal war.”
Israel gave her seat at the council meeting to the mother of one of dozens of prisoners held in Gaza, who gave a moving speech.
“Mr. President, we should be on the same side – the one that fights against hostage taking, without ever accepting the use of young women as tools of commerce. Please help me hug my daughter again,” said Meirav Leshem Gonen, the mother of a 23-year-old captive.
Toby Cadman, an international human rights lawyer, told Tel Aviv Tribune the report was unlikely to have an immediate effect on Israel’s conduct, but could be used as evidence in future legal proceedings and could lead Western countries to reconsider their support for Israel.
