the methods used by Israel “correspond to the characteristics of a genocide”, says a special UN committee

A report from the body also shows how Israel's massive bombing campaign in Gaza has decimated essential services and triggered an environmental catastrophe with lasting health effects.

The methods of warfare used by Israel in the Gaza Strip “correspond to the characteristics of a genocide”affirmed Thursday, November 14, a special UN committee. The organization highlights the “massive civilian casualties and conditions imposed on Palestinians there intentionally endangering their lives,” in a report due to be presented Monday to the UN General Assembly in New York.

Created in 1968 by the UN General Assembly, this committee is responsible for investigating Israeli practices affecting human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In a new report, he looked at the period from the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel until last July.

“Through its siege of Gaza, its obstruction of humanitarian aid, its targeted attacks and killing of civilians and aid workers, despite repeated appeals from the UN, binding orders from the International Court of Justice and resolutions Security Council, Israel intentionally causes death, starvation and serious injury”assures the committee. Israel “uses starvation as a method of war and inflicts collective punishment on the Palestinian population”adds the committee.

The report shows how Israel's extensive bombing campaign in Gaza has decimated essential services and triggered an environmental catastrophe with lasting health effects. Until February, Israeli forces used more than 25,000 tons of explosives in the Gaza Strip, “the equivalent of two nuclear bombs” (almost twice the American atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima), underlines the report.

“By destroying vital water, sanitation and food systems, and contaminating the environment, Israel has created a deadly mix of crises that will inflict grave harm on generations to come.”denounces the committee. He also declares himself “deeply alarmed by the unprecedented destruction of civilian infrastructure and the high number of deaths in Gaza”where more than 43,700 people have died since the start of the war, according to the report communicated by the Ministry of Health of the enclave, led by Hamas.