Protesters held a banner reading "Stop Genocide" during a rally organized by political parties against the "Israel is Forever" gala, which was hosted by far-right Franco-Israeli figures in Paris on November 13, 2024. — AFP
Israel condemned the United Nations for what it described as "anti-Israel fabrications" after a UN committee claimed that Israel's warfare in Gaza aligns with the characteristics of genocide. The foreign ministry stated that the UN is breaking its own record with biased reports, singling out Israel and spreading false information. The UN special committee reported that Israel was "intentionally causing death, starvation, and serious injury" in the Gaza Strip, accusing it of using starvation as a method of war. However, the ministry dismissed these accusations as false claims, stating that the report is an appalling example of the UN being used as a pawn by terrorists attacking civilians in a democratic state.
The UN committee had stated that through its siege over Gaza, obstruction of humanitarian aid, and targeted attacks on civilians and aid workers, despite repeated UN appeals, binding orders from the International Court of Justice, and resolutions of the Security Council, Israel is intentionally causing death, starvation, and serious injury. Israel's foreign ministry, however, insisted that its activities are solely aimed at dismantling Hamas's terror capabilities. The United States, Israel's biggest supporter, rejected the UN committee's charges as unfounded.
This is not the first time Israel has faced accusations of genocide, with a case brought before the International Court of Justice in December arguing that its conduct in Gaza breaches the UN's Genocide Convention—a claim Israel has strongly denied. The Israeli ministry stated that Hamas uses civilians as human shields and that Israel is not targeting the people of Gaza. Israel remains fully committed to facilitating the continuous flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, despite aid groups, including UN agencies, frequently facing major obstacles, particularly administrative problems, in carrying out their activities in the Palestinian territory, which is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis.
The report was prepared by a special United Nations committee, created in 1968 and tasked with investigating Israeli practices in the occupied Palestinian territories, after Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip a year earlier. It is due to be presented to the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday. The war in Gaza began after Hamas's unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry on Sunday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war had reached 43,846.
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