A United Nations Commission of Inquiry in Geneva concluded on Tuesday that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had incited these acts — accusations that Israel called scandalous.

The UN report cites examples of the scale of the killings, aid blockages, forced displacement and the destruction of a fertility clinic to back up its genocide finding, adding its voice to rights groups and others who have reached the same conclusion.

“Genocide is occurring in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, head of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and a former International Criminal Court judge.

“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Meron, called the report “scandalous” and “fake,” saying it had been authored by “Hamas proxies.”

WATCH | Former Canadian ambassador reacts: 

Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN inquiry finds

A United Nations Commission of Inquiry in Geneva concluded on Tuesday that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had incited these acts — accusations Israel called scandalous. Jon Allen, former Canadian ambassador to Israel, weighs in.

“Israel categorically rejects the libellous rant published today by this commission of inquiry,” Meron told journalists.

Israel, which began a ground offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, accuses the commission of having a political agenda against Israel and of diverging from its mandate. Israel did not co-operate with the inquiry.

Read the full UN report:

Doha strike called a ‘shocking breach’ of law

The commission’s 72-page legal analysis is the strongest UN finding to date, but the body is independent and does not officially speak for the United Nations. The UN has not yet used the term genocide but is under mounting pressure to do so.

Separately, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights told delegates Tuesday that Israel undermined regional peace and stability in its attack last week on Hamas leaders who were in Qatar to negotiate a ceasefire.

A bald, bespectacled man in a suit and tie, and a bespectacled woman are shown sitting at a long table, with name tags in French in front of them.UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, right, speaks next to Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif during an urgent debate of the UN Human Rights Council on Israel’s Qatar attack in Geneva, on Tuesday. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

Volker Türk called the Sept. 9 strike a “shocking breach of international law, an assault on regional peace and stability, and a blow against the integrity of mediation and negotiating processes around the world.”

Israel is fighting a genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It has rejected such accusations, citing its right to self-defence following the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people including several Canadian citizens, and resulted in 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

The subsequent war in Gaza has killed more than 64,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, while a global hunger monitor says part of it is suffering from famine.

The 1948 UN Genocide Convention, adopted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews by Nazi Germany, defines genocide as crimes committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such.”

LISTEN l Holocaust historian Omer Bartov on why he thinks genocide applies: 

Day 6An Israeli-American Holocaust scholar says Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the definition of genocide

Conditions that constitute a genocide outlined

To count as genocide, at least one of five acts must have occurred.

The UN commission found that Israel had committed four of them: killing; causing serious bodily or mental harm; deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births.

It cited as evidence interviews with victims, witnesses, doctors, verified open-source documents and satellite imagery analysis compiled since the war began.

WATCH l Palestinians wonder where to turn amid evacuation orders: 

Palestinians in Gaza move southward: ‘We have nothing remaining’

Displaced Palestinians headed south along a coastal road in central Gaza on Monday, carting belongings on overloaded cars, carts or even on foot. Israel has urged Palestinians in Gaza City to move out as it ramps up its bombardment of the area.

The commission also concluded that statements by Netanyahu and other officials are “direct evidence of genocidal intent.” It cites a letter he wrote to Israeli soldiers in November 2023 comparing the Gaza operation to what the commission describes as a “holy war of total annihilation” in the Hebrew Bible.

The report also names Israeli President Isaac Herzog and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.

South Africa’s Pillay, who headed a UN tribunal for Rwanda where more than 1 million people were killed in 1994, said the situations were comparable.

“When I look at the facts in the Rwandan genocide, it’s very, very similar to this. You dehumanize your victims. They’re animals, and so therefore, without conscience, you can kill them,” she said.

LISTEN l  Scholar William Schabas on the history of the UN Genocide Convention: 

IdeasInternational laws against genocide exist: so why don’t they work?

While the International Court of Justice referred to other Israeli statements in regard to Gaza and Palestinians in its 2024 emergency measures order, it did not name Netanyahu.

“I hope, as a result of our report, that the minds of states will also be opened,” said Pillay.