UN inquiry chair repeats Gaza genocide finding at rights briefing

The chair of a UN commission of inquiry told a Palestinian rights committee on 29 October that his panel had concluded Israel was continuing to commit genocide in Gaza. He also said it had found that Israeli authorities and security forces committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in the occupied West Bank. The commission had presented those findings earlier that week; the briefing was not a new court ruling.

Srinivasan Muralidhar said the commission’s West Bank findings included the crimes against humanity of extermination, torture and rape. The Associated Press, which reported on the commission’s findings on 26 October, said it could not independently corroborate several accounts of sexual assault described in the report. Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the report as propaganda aimed at undermining its right to self-defence. Its mission in Geneva also called for the commission to be dissolved, AP reported.

Separate UN humanitarian reporting documents continuing violence without settling the commission’s legal claims. The aid coordination agency OCHA recorded 272 settler attacks linked to the West Bank olive harvest between 1 September and 19 October, with one Palestinian killed and 200 injured. It also said Israeli police reportedly arrested 10 suspects after two attacks in October. In Gaza, OCHA reported continuing Israeli airstrikes, shelling and gunfire in mid-October.

Other speakers at the briefing addressed different effects of the conflict. Special rapporteur Francesca Albanese spoke about threats to reporting and the preservation of evidence; Farida Shaheed focused on disrupted education; and Surya Deva argued that Palestinians must be able to participate meaningfully in decisions about reconstruction.

The commission’s conclusions are distinct from the case before the International Court of Justice. South Africa, which brought that case, says the court has set deadlines for further written submissions in 2027 and 2029. The court has ordered provisional measures but has not delivered a final ruling on the genocide allegation.