UN Commission says Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to a commission established by the United Nations.

The report claims "it is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza" and says Israel's actions meet the criteria set down for defining a genocide. It is the first time that such an explosive allegation has been made publicly by a UN body, and is likely to be greeted with fury by the Israeli government.

Follow live updates: 'Gaza is burning' after overnight strikes Israel's Foreign Ministry said it "categorically rejects this distorted and false report" and called for the commission to be abolished. "Three individuals serving as Hamas proxies, notorious for their openly antisemitic positions - and whose horrific statements about Jews have been condemned worldwide - released today another fake 'report' about Gaza," it said in a statement.

"The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others. These fabrications have already been thoroughly debunked." The accusation of genocide is made by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The commission, which has been studying the conduct of Israel since the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, has concluded that Israel has committed four of the five acts laid out in the Genocide Convention. It alleges Israel has been killing Palestinians or forcing them to live in inhumane conditions that led to death; causing serious bodily or mental harm, including through torture, displacement and sexual crime; deliberately imposing inhumane conditions, and fourthly, imposing measures intending to prevent births.

This final claim is linked to an attack on the Al-Basma IVF clinic, which the commission claims destroyed around 4,000 embryos and a further 1,000 sperm samples. The report claims Israel has "flagrantly" ignored "numerous warnings" over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and has set out to "destroy the healthcare system in Gaza".

It also alleges that Israeli military personnel have carried out sexual and gender-based violence, including "rape and sexualised torture.