By
D.B.S.Jeyaraj
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel released its report on September 16th 2025. The three member Commission headed by eminent South African jurist and former UN Human Rights Commissioner Navanethem “Navi”Pillay stated that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. “The Commission concludes that the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” said the report . In its report the Commission urged Israel and all States to fulfil their legal obligations under international law to end the genocide and punish those responsible for it.
As is well known the Israeli Government of Prime Minister Benjamin “Bebe”Netanyahu has been conducting a savage military onslaught against the Palestinian people in general and the residents of Gaza in Particuar for the past two years. The military campaign has been severely criticised by people of conscience all over the world ranging from leftists to liberals as a genocidal war. The Navi Pillay Commission report added much credence and weight to the charge of genocide against Israel.
Predictably , Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the inquiry’s findings as “fake” and alleged in a post on “X”(twitter) that the report’s authors were “serving as Hamas proxies”.“The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others,” the ministry said. “Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry,” it added.Israel’s permanent representative to the UN, Daniel Meron, also condemned the inquiry’s findings and referred to it as “scandalous”, “fake” and a “libellous rant”.
Barely two weeks after the report’s release US president Donald Trump publicised his purported 20 point plan to end the war and achieve peace in Gaza. The 20 point plan was viewed suspiciously by many knowledgeable observers as another time-buying ploy by the Trump-Netanyahu duo to complete the sinister Gaza annexation plot , the timing of the act resulted in another negative consequence. Global attention is being diverted away from the UN Commission report finding Israel guilty of genocide in Gaza. It is against this backdrop therefore that this column focuses this week on the report of the commission headed by Navi Pillay .
The three-member Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Palestine was established by the UN Human Rights Council.The Inquiry panel members were nominated by the 47 member states. Apart from Navi Pillay ,the other two are Miloon Kothari, an Indian expert in land rights and housing who served as the first UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing and Chris Sidoti, an Australian international human rights lawyer who has held multiple roles in the UN, including as founder and expert member of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar.
The Commission’s newly released report described as “the strongest and most authoritative UN finding to date,” finds reasonable grounds to conclude that four of five acts constituting genocide, as defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention, are being carried out against a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. In short the state of Israel is guilty of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza since the war commenced in October 2023.
Genocide
A key question ar4ising at this point is about the definition of genocide. What constitutes a genocide? The UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect provides relevant details about the background and history pertaining to genocide. Here are some excerpts –
The word “genocide” was first coined by Polish lawyer Raphäel Lemkin in 1944 in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. It consists of the Greek prefix genos, meaning race or tribe, and the Latin suffix cide, meaning killing. Lemkin developed the term partly in response to the Nazi policies of systematic murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust, but also in response to previous instances in history of targeted actions aimed at the destruction of particular groups of people.
Later on, Raphäel Lemkin led the campaign to have genocide recognised and codified as an international crime.Genocide was first recognised as a crime under international law in 1946 by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/96-I). It was codified as an independent crime in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention). The Convention has been ratified by 153 States (as of April 2022).
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has repeatedly stated that the Convention embodies principles that are part of general customary international law. This means that whether or not States have ratified the Genocide Convention, they are all bound as a matter of law by the principle that genocide is a crime prohibited under international law. The ICJ has also stated that the prohibition of genocide is a peremptory norm of international law (or ius cogens) and consequently, no derogation from it is allowed.
The definition of the crime of genocide as contained in Article II of the Genocide Convention was the result of a negotiating process and reflects the compromise reached among United Nations Member States in 1948 at the time of drafting the Convention. Genocide is defined in the same terms as in the Genocide Convention in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 6), as well as in the statutes of other international and hybrid jurisdictions. Many States have also criminalized genocide in their domestic law; others have yet to do so.
Definition
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Article II
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Crime of Genocide
The Genocide Convention establishes in Article I that the crime of genocide may take place in the context of an armed conflict, international or non-international, but also in the context of a peaceful situation. The latter is less common but still possible. The same article establishes the obligation of the contracting parties to prevent and to punish the crime of genocide.
The popular understanding of what constitutes genocide tends to be broader than the content of the norm under international law. Article II of the Genocide Convention contains a narrow definition of the crime of genocide, which includes two main elements:
1. A mental element: the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”; and
2. A physical element, which includes the following five acts, enumerated exhaustively:
o Killing members of the group
o Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
o Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
o Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
o Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
Intent
The intent is the most difficult element to determine. To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Cultural destruction does not suffice, nor does an intention to simply disperse a group. It is this special intent, or dolus specialis, that makes the crime of genocide so unique. In addition, case law has associated intent with the existence of a State or organizational plan or policy, even if the definition of genocide in international law does not include that element.
Importantly, the victims of genocide are deliberately targeted – not randomly – because of their real or perceived membership of one of the four groups protected under the Convention (which excludes political groups, for example). This means that the target of destruction must be the group, as such, and not its members as individuals. Genocide can also be committed against only a part of the group, as long as that part is identifiable (including within a geographically limited area) and “substantial”.
Media Briefing
The UN Inquiry Commission chairperson Dr.Navanethem Pillay known as Navi Pillay held a press briefing after the report was released. The UN office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued informative media communiques about the event that shed much light on the findings of the report and methodology adopted . Here are some relevant excerpts –
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel has been investigating the events on and since 7 October 2023 for the last two years. The commission has concluded that Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.
Explicit statements by Israeli civilian and military authorities and the pattern of conduct of the Israeli security forces indicate that the genocidal acts were committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group.
“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”
“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza,” Pillay said. “The Commission also finds that Israel has failed to prevent and punish the commission of genocide, through failure to investigate genocidal acts and to prosecute alleged perpetrators.”
The report is based on all the Commission’s prior investigations, as well as factual and legal findings in relation to attacks in Gaza carried out by Israeli forces, and the conduct and statements of Israeli authorities from 7 October 2023 until 31 July 2025. The Commission’s findings are based on a comprehensive examination of the underlying acts of genocide (actus reus) and genocidal intent (dolus specialis).
Military Operations
In establishing the genocidal acts, the Commission examined the Israeli military operations in Gaza, including killing and seriously harming unprecedented numbers of Palestinians; imposing a total siege, including blocking humanitarian aid leading to starvation; systematically destroying the healthcare and education systems in Gaza; committing systematic acts of sexual and gender based violence; directly targeting children; carrying out systematic and widespread attacks on religious and cultural sites; and disregarding the orders of the International Court of Justice.
In establishing genocidal intent, the Commission applied the “only reasonable inference” standard set forth by the International Court of Justice in the case of Bosnia v. Serbia. The Commission analysed statements made by Israeli authorities and concluded that those statements are direct evidence of genocidal intent. The Commission also analysed the pattern of conduct of Israeli authorities and the Israeli security forces in Gaza, including imposing starvation and inhumane conditions of life for Palestinians in Gaza, and found that genocidal intent was the only reasonable inference that could be concluded from the nature of their operations.
“Israel has flagrantly disregarded the orders for provisional measures from the International Court of Justice and warnings from Member States, UN offices, human rights organisations and civil society groups, and continued the strategy of destruction of the Palestinians in Gaza,” said Pillay. “The Commission finds that the Israeli authorities had no intention to change their course of actions. On the contrary, Israeli authorities have persisted and continued with their genocidal campaign in Gaza for almost two years now. Israel must immediately end the genocide in Gaza and comply fully with the orders for provisional measures of the International Court of Justice,” she added.
State of Israel
The acts of Israeli political and military leaders are attributable to the State of Israel. The Commission therefore concluded that the State of Israel bears responsibility for the failure to prevent genocide, the commission of genocide and the failure to punish the perpetrators of genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The Commission also concluded that Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, have incited the commission of genocide and that Israeli authorities have failed to take action against them to punish this incitement. The Commission has not fully assessed statements by other Israeli political and military leaders and considers that they too should be assessed to determine whether they constitute incitement to commit genocide.
The Commission urges the Government of Israel to comply immediately with its international legal obligations, including to end the genocide in the Gaza Strip and fully implement the provisional measures orders of the International Court of Justice.
Israel must end its policy of starvation, lift the siege and facilitate and ensure the unimpeded access of humanitarian aid at scale and unhindered access of all United Nations staff, including UNRWA and OHCHR international staff, and all recognized international humanitarian agencies delivering and coordinating aid.
The Commission recommended that Member States cease the transfer of arms and other equipment that may be used for the commission of genocidal acts to Israel; ensure individuals and corporations in their territories and within their jurisdiction are not involved in aiding and assisting the commission of genocide or incitement to commit genocide; and take action on accountability through investigations and legal proceedings against individuals or corporations that are involved in the genocide directly or indirectly.
“The international community cannot stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity,” said Pillay.
Stop the Genocide
“Every day of inaction costs lives and erodes the credibility of the international community. All States are under a legal obligation to use all means that are reasonably available to them to stop the genocide in Gaza,” she added.
D.B.S.Jeyaraj can be reached at dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com
This article appears in the “DBS Jeyaraj Column “ of the “Daily Mirror” date3de 4 October 2025.It can be accessed here –
https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/UN-Inquiry-Commission-reportIsrael-is-Committing-Genocide-in-Gaza/172-321353
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