Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, a United Nations probe by independent rights investigators said Tuesday.

Families and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since the October 7, 2023 attack, take part in a nationwide protest strike demanding the end of the war and a deal to release all 50 hostages, in Jerusalem, on Sunday, August 17, 2025. On Tuesday, a United Nations commission published a report concluding Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Fiel Photo by Debbie Hill/ UPI UPI

Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, a United Nations probe by independent rights investigators said Tuesday.

The report from the investigators for the Human Rights Council found that it has "reasonable grounds" to conclude that Israeli authorities and government have committed four of the five punishable acts of genocide under the Genocide Convention amid its nearly two-year war against Hamas.

The crimes the probe found that Israel committed against the Palestinians are: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life to bring about their destruction in whole or part and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

"The commission concludes that Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, have incited the commission of genocide and that Israeli authorities have failed to take action against them to punish this incitement," the commission wrote in its 72-page report, adding that statements made Israeli authorities "are direct evidence of genocidal intent."

"The commission concludes that the State of Israel bears responsibility for the failure to prevent genocide, the commission of genocide and the failure to punish genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."

The report includes recommendations for Israel, including ending its genocide in Gaza. It also recommends U.N. member states, among other suggestions, to cease the transfer of arms to Israel and aid investigations into Israelis and companies facilitating genocide as well as the state of Israel.

While report was focused on alleged crimes committed in Gaza during the period starting Oct. 7, 2023, when the war began, the commission raises "serious concern that the specific intent to destroy the Palestinians as a whole has extended to the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory," including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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