GENEVA (LifeSiteNews) — The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, issued a report on Tuesday that reveals evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent against Palestinians in Gaza.
Navi Pillay, chair of the commission investigating events in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, found that Israel committed four acts defined as genocide under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: killing members of a group, causing serious physical or mental harm, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life to bring about their destruction, and imposing measures to prevent births within the group.
The report singled out three Israeli leaders of publicly inciting genocide: President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” Pillay said. “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 also added that “(a)ll States are under a legal obligation to use all means that are reasonably available to them to stop the genocide in Gaza.”
This call to action from the UN commission echoes similar calls made by many other countries invoked at a recent UN Security Council meeting.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN voiced the need of a “protection force” to save the Palestinian people, and the Pakistani ambassador cited a resolution by the Organization for Islamic Cooperation calling for the invoking of Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which calls for measures to implement use of force to restore international peace and security.
On the other hand, despite a unified statement from the Holy Land Catholic and Orthodox bishops and hundreds of Catholic priests signing an appeal to recognize the genocide, the Vatican has yet to call it a genocide.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin was asked to comment on a resolution that the European Parliament passed recognizing the genocide in Gaza.
“They probably found, in what is happening, elements to apply that definition,” Parolin said. “We — for the moment — have not done so yet. (…) This remains to be seen. It is necessary to study; the conditions must be exactly met in order to make such a statement.”
Parolin further commented on the meeting between Herzog and Pope Leo XIV on September 11, when Herzog reportedly gave assurances that there would be no occupation of Gaza.
“I give everyone the benefit of good faith; then we’ll have to see the facts,” Parolin said.
There have been and continue to be facts on the ground pointing to a persistent and systemic annihilation of the Palestinian population in Gaza.
LifeSite previously reported on many of the atrocities referenced in the UN report, including Herzog’s assertion that “there is no innocent Palestinian.”
Retired Green Beret Lt. Colonel Tony Aguilar also described many serious crimes he witnessed during the period that he was on the ground serving in Gaza with the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The release of the UN report comes as Israeli forces are intensifying heavy bombardment of Gaza City, destroying dozens of buildings and massacring civilians.
