U.N. Report Says Israel’s Actions Toward Palestinians Qualify As Genocide

The report details how Israel's policies and practices inflict collective punishment on the Palestinian people in an attempt to wipe them off the map.

Israel’s actions since it laid siege to war-torn Gaza last year are “consistent with the characteristics of genocide,” according to a new report by the United Nations committee investigating how the state’s policies and practices impact the Palestinian people’s human rights.

Since launching its military offensive more than 400 days ago, Israel has “publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life — food, water and fuel,” the committee said in a Thursday statement about its report, which will be presented to the General Assembly on Nov. 18.

“These statements along with the systematic and unlawful interference of humanitarian aid make clear Israel’s intent to instrumentalize life-saving supplies for political and military gains,” it continued.

The Israeli government has not yet publicly responded to the report, though officials have repeatedly denied any violations of international law and framed such accusations as antisemitic. Israeli officials have also consistently criticized the U.N. as being biased against their country.

The U.N. established the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices in 1968 to monitor the state of human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The committee is made up of representatives from Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Senegal, who said they were unable to visit the areas in question because Israel never responded to their requests.