The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (CoI), has concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israel has committed acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
The CoI, a subsidiary body of the UN Human Rights Council established in 2021, was tasked with investigating alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in the region. In its latest report, the Commission addressed the legal threshold for genocide and found that Israel had committed four acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention: killings; causing serious bodily or mental harm; deliberately inflicting conditions of life intended to destroy the group; and measures aimed at preventing births.
According to the CoI, these acts were carried out by Israeli authorities and security forces with the specific intent to destroy Palestinian Arabs in Gaza—a necessary element to establish genocide under international law. The findings are based on what the report describes as “extensive evidence” of systematic and large-scale violence, including killings, destruction of homes and cultural heritage, deliberate starvation, denial of healthcare, sexual and gender-based violence, and direct attacks on children.
Genocide, often referred to as the “crime of crimes,” is defined under Article II of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The crime requires not only the commission of certain prohibited acts but also the intent to destroy a protected group, in whole or in part. This specific intent, or dolus specialis, makes genocide particularly difficult to prove. Still, the Commission found that genocidal intent was “the only reasonable inference” from the overall pattern of conduct and public statements made by top Israeli officials, including the President, Prime Minister, and Defense Minister.
In December 2023, South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of violating the Genocide Convention. The ICJ granted provisional measures in response. Amnesty International followed with a December 2024 report titled "You Feel Like You Are Subhuman," supporting allegations of genocidal actions. More recently, in August 2025, the International Association of Genocide Scholars issued a resolution declaring that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide. UN experts, including Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, issued an urgent call in September 2025 for a UN General Assembly emergency session on Gaza, citing further evidence of genocide and mass starvation.
The CoI’s report emphasizes that under international law, all States have a duty to prevent and punish genocide. It calls on Israel to immediately cease all genocidal actions, enforce a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and allow unrestricted access to UN personnel and humanitarian aid. The report also urges other countries to act decisively to prevent further atrocities. Recommendations include halting arms transfers and other military support—including jet fuel—to Israel or third-party states where there’s a risk of complicity in genocide.
So far, international responses have been mixed. While a few countries, such as Ireland, have taken concrete steps in response to the unfolding crisis, others—including the United Kingdom—have dismissed the genocide claims after conducting their own assessments, as outlined in a recent letter from former Foreign Secretary David Lammy to Parliament.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry tweeted: "In response to the Pillay, Sidoti and Kothari Commission of Inquiry’s fake report: 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."
"The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others. These fabrications have already been thoroughly debunked, including in an independent, in-depth academic study by BESA, which refuted every single false claim regarding genocide. Needless to say, the three authors made no attempt to address the clear findings of the BESA study."
"In stark contrast to the lies in the report, Hamas is the party that attempted genocide in Israel — murdering 1,200 people, raping women, burning families alive, and openly declaring its goal of killing every Jew."
"Miraculously, all three authors of this fabricated report have recently resigned. They should not be replaced."
"Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry."