Israel has committed “acts of genocide“ against Palestinians by systematically destroying women's health facilities during the Gaza conflict and using sexual violence as a military strategy, a report by UN experts said, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
Israel's permanent mission to the UN headquarters in Geneva called the allegations in the report unfounded, biased and unreliable.
“Israeli authorities have partially destroyed the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group, including by imposing measures aimed at preventing new births – one of the categories of acts of genocide in the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention“, said the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel.
These actions, in addition to a rise in maternal deaths due to limited access to medical supplies, constitute the crime against humanity – extermination, the commission said.
The report accuses Israeli security forces of using forced public undressing and sexual assault as part of their standard operating procedures to punish Palestinians following attacks in southern Israel since October 2023.
“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) follows specific guidelines… and policies that unequivocally prohibit such conduct“, said a statement from the Israeli permanent mission to the UN headquarters in Geneva. It added that the IDF's vetting processes were in line with international standards.
In a previous report by the commission, published in June 2024, the Palestinian group “Hamas“ and other military groups were also accused of serious human rights violations during the October 7, 2023 attack, including torture and degrading treatment, Reuters noted.
Israel is a party to the Genocide Convention and in January 2024 the UN International Court of Justice ordered it to take action to prevent acts of genocide during its war against “Hamas“.
The Republic of South Africa has filed a case at the UN International Court of Justice against Israel's actions in Gaza, accusing it of committing genocide.