New York

A United Nations commission of inquiry has found that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

A new report by the world body has said that there are reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out since the start of the war with Hamas in 2023; killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group, and imposing measures preventing births.

It cites statements by Israeli leaders, and the pattern of conduct by Israeli forces, as evidence of genocidal intent.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel has urged Israel and all countries to fulfil their obligations under international law "to end the genocide" and punish those responsible.

"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," he said.

At a press conference in Geneva, the panel's members - who are not UN staff but instead appointed by the Human Rights Council's 47 Member States - explained that their investigations into the war in Gaza beginning with Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023 had led to the conclusion that Israeli authorities and security forces "committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide".

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Israel's foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as "distorted and false", Al Jazeera reported.