To fulfil the legal definition of genocide under the Genocide Convention, it must also be established that the perpetrator committed any one of those acts with specific intent to destroy the group in whole or in part.
The commission says it analysed statements made by Israeli leaders and alleges that President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant have “incited the commission of genocide”.
It also states that “genocidal intent was the only reasonable inference” that could be concluded from the pattern of conduct of Israeli authorities and security forces in Gaza.
The commission says the pattern of conduct includes intentionally killing and seriously harming an unprecedented number of Palestinians using heavy munitions; systematic and widespread attacks on religious, cultural and education sites; and imposing a siege on Gaza and starving its population.
Israel’s government insists that its efforts are directed solely at dismantling Hamas’s capabilities and not at the people of Gaza. It says its forces operate in accordance with international law and take all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians.
“As early as 7 October 2023, Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed to inflict… ‘mighty vengeance’ on ‘all of the places where Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble’,” Pillay said in an interview with the BBC.
“His use of the phrase ‘wicked city’ in the same statement implied that he saw the whole city of Gaza [Gaza City] as responsible and a target for vengeance. And he told Palestinians to ‘leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere’.”
She added: “It took us two years to gather all the actions and make factual findings, verify whether that had happened… It’s only the facts that will direct you. And you can only bring it under the Genocide Convention if those acts were done with this intention.”
The commission says the acts of Israeli political and military leaders are “attributable to the State of Israel”, and that the state therefore “bears responsibility for the failure to prevent genocide, the commission of genocide and the failure to punish genocide”.
It also warns all other countries have an immediate obligation under the Genocide Convention to “prevent and punish the crime of genocide”, employing all measures at their disposal. If they do not, it says, they could be complicit.
“We have not gone so far as to name parties as co-conspirators, or being complicit in genocide. But that is the… ongoing work of this commission. They will get there,” Pillay said.
A number of international and Israeli human rights organisations, independent UN experts, and scholars have also accused Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is meanwhile hearing a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israeli forces of genocide. Israel has called the case “wholly unfounded” and based on “biased and false claims”.