Israeli government seeks permanent Gaza control and Jewish majority in West Bank, UN inquiry says

The Israeli government has shown a clear intent to establish permanent control over Gaza and to ensure a Jewish majority in the occupied West Bank, a United Nations commission said in a report on Tuesday.

The UN report details Israeli authorities' extensive, systematic demolition of civilian infrastructure in Gaza's corridors and buffer zone - resulting in Israel expanding control to 75% of the Gaza Strip by July this year.

"Israeli forces have also intentionally altered the geography of Gaza" through the creation of military corridors, expanding the border buffer zone and establishing security zones, the report by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said.

Israel maintains that its war is not against the population of Gaza but against the Hamas group that controls the enclave and led an attack on Israeli territory in 2023 that precipitated the war.

The Israeli mission in Geneva dismissed the report's findings.

"Hamas has genocidal intent towards Israel, the report has everything backwards. This Commission does not miss an opportunity to reveal its true character and politically-driven agenda." 

More experts are calling Israel's actions in Gaza genocide

A growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a UN body, have said Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip amounts to genocide, deepening Israel’s isolation and risking untold damage to the country’s standing even among allies.

Even so, global outrage over Israel’s wartime conduct has mounted in recent months, as images of starving children emerged, adding to the humanitarian catastrophe of a 23-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and laid waste to much of Gaza.

A current offensive in the territory's largest city further raised concern, with some of Israel's European allies condemning it.

But the genocide accusation goes further, raising the question of whether a state forged in the aftermath of the crime is now committing it.

In a report last week, a team of independent experts commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council concluded the war has become an attempt by Israel to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza and constitutes genocide.

The group, which doesn’t speak for the UN, said its determination was based on a pattern of behavior, including Israel’s “total siege” of Gaza, killing or wounding vast numbers of Palestinians, and the destruction of health and educational facilities. 

Many of the world’s leading experts on genocide have reached the same conclusion, with at least two dozen using the term publicly in the past year. Among them is Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University.

Early in the war, Bartov, who grew up in Israel and served in its military, argued Israel's actions didn't amount to genocide.

He changed his mind when Israel took over the city of Rafah, driving out most of its population. He now considers Israel's actions “a genocidal operation.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called Israel’s conduct genocide this month. “This is not self-defense, it’s not even an attack — it’s the extermination of a defenseless people,” he said.

Two Israeli rights groups have also said it’s genocide. While the groups are respected internationally, their views are not representative of the vast majority of Israelis.

In December, Amnesty International used the term, citing similar findings as the U.N.-commissioned experts. “Looking at the broader picture of Israel’s military campaign and the cumulative impact of its policies and acts, genocidal intent is the only reasonable conclusion,” it said.

Two weeks later, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of intentionally depriving Gaza of water, saying that amounted to “an act of genocide.”