A United Nations commission reported Tuesday that the Israeli government has demonstrated a clear intent to establish permanent control over Gaza and secure a Jewish majority in the occupied West Bank.
The U.N. 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.'s Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said.
Israel maintains that its war is not against the population of Gaza but against the resistance group Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023, incursion precipitated the war.
The Israeli mission in Geneva dismissed the report's findings.
"Hamas has genocidal intent toward Israel, the report has everything backward. This Commission does not miss an opportunity to reveal its true character and politically-driven agenda."
The Commission also found that since October 2023, Israeli policies have demonstrated a clear intent to forcibly transfer Palestinians, expand Jewish settlements and annex the entire West Bank.
"Increasing violent attacks by settlers have resulted in the forcible displacement of communities and subsequent Judaization of areas of the West Bank," the report stated.
It also highlights military operations in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, which resulted in the destruction of homes and infrastructure and the displacement of residents – actions the Commission deems unjustified militarily and tantamount to collective punishment.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has previously said the operation had reduced the threat from Palestinian resistance groups.
The report names several Israeli ministers, including Katz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister for National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as bearing primary responsibility for what the commission said were international crimes.
They were not immediately available for comment.
Israel cites biblical and historical ties to the West Bank, and disputes the widely held view that its settlements there are illegal.
The report, due to be presented to the U.N. General Assembly in October, found that by destroying civilian infrastructure and forcibly transferring the population, Israeli authorities had deliberately inflicted conditions of life calculated to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in Gaza – an underlying act of genocide.
Israeli actions had "deepened the misery of the Palestinian people and deprived them of resources indispensable for their survival, including the capacity to produce food," Navi Pillay, the head of the commission, said in a statement.
Israel, which is continuing its ground operation in Gaza City, has vehemently rejected what it described as scandalous accusations made in a previous report by the same commission of inquiry on Sept. 16 that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
Hamas' Oct. 7 incursion caused 1,200 deaths and captured 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people, mostly women and children, according to local health officials. A global hunger monitor says part of the territory is suffering from famine.
