<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations' Human Rights Council has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, issuing a report on Tuesday that calls on the international community to end the genocide and take steps to punish those responsible for it.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The deeply documented findings by the three-member team are the latest accusations of genocide against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government by rights advocates as Israeli carries on with its war against Hamas in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel rejected what it called a “distorted and false” report.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/dr-elise-turner-claims-she-was-asked-to-leave-virgin-airport-lounge-melbourne-for-pumping-breastmillk/82385555-7b25-4d25-a883-364bd353a0d6" target="_blank"><strong><span>Airline says sorry to 'furious' mum for booting her out of Aussie lounge</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which was created four years ago, has repeatedly documented alleged human rights abuses and violations both in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel led by Hamas, and other Palestinian areas.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While neither the commission nor the 47-member-country council that it works for within the UN system can take action against a country, the findings could be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court or the UN's International Court of Justice.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The report also amounts to a final message from the team headed by former UN rights chief Navi Pillay.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/human-rights-experts-join-rising-chorus-that-accuses-israel-of-genocide-in-gaza/6eddafda-3877-47ca-b8ae-cf5d70142481" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>All three of its members announced in July that they would resign, citing personal reasons and a need for change.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The team was commissioned by the Human Rights Council, the UN’s top human rights body, but it does not speak for the United Nations.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission and has accused it and HRC of anti-Israel bias.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Earlier this year, the Trump administration, a key Israeli ally, pulled the United States out of the council, which is the UN's top human rights body.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/riverstone-gas-leak-sydney-death-police/5abf28d3-cf8a-46e9-a303-e93870eb0017" target="_blank"><strong><span>One dead, cops injured after gas leak at Sydney restaurant</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After a painstaking legal analysis, the commission said Israel had committed four of the five “genocidal acts” defined under an international convention adopted in 1948 known colloquially as the “Genocide Convention,” three years after the end of World War II and the Holocaust.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” said Pillay, the commission chair.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Pillay, a former UN human rights chief, said “responsibility for the atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons” over the nearly two-year war.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her commission concluded that Netanyahu, as well as Israeli President Isaac Herzog and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, had incited the commission of genocide.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It hasn't assessed whether other Israeli leaders had done so too.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has adamantly rejected genocide allegations against it as an antisemitic “blood libel".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel's Foreign Ministry issued an angry response, saying it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Three individuals serving as Hamas proxies, notorious for their openly antisemitic positions — and whose horrific statements about Jews have been condemned worldwide — released today another fake ‘report’ about Gaza,” it said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Genocide accusations are especially sensitive in Israel, which was founded as a haven for Jews in the wake of the Holocaust and where memories of the Holocaust still play an important role in the country’s national identity.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/centrelink-payments-changes-2025-new-rates-september-20-everything-to-know-explained/7ad1411a-7f1e-4e0d-b1dd-c1dd45803dd6" target="_blank"><strong><span>Millions of Aussies to get a cash boost as Centrelink payments increase</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In coming to its conclusion of genocide, the commission said it pored over the conduct of Israeli security forces and “explicit statements” by Israeli civilian and military authorities, among other criteria.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In particular, the experts cited as factors the death toll, Israel's “total siege” of Gaza and blockade of humanitarian aid that has led to starvation, a policy of “systematically destroying” the health care system, and direct targeting of children.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The commission urged other countries to halt weapons transfers to Israel and block individuals or companies from actions that could contribute to genocide in Gaza.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“The international community cannot stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza," said Pillay, who is a South African jurist.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The current UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, has decried Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and spoken out forcefully against alleged crimes, but has not accused Israel of carrying out genocide.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>His office, alluding to international law, has argued that only an international court can make a final, formal determination of genocide.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Critics counter that could take years and insist that thousands of people, many of them civilians, are being systematically killed in Gaza in the meantime.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The International Court of Justice is hearing a genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/anthony-heraghty-super-retail-rebel-bcf-supercheap-auto/d35af5ef-29dd-4f7c-8290-9cedd70b7595" target="_blank"><strong><span>Boss of $3.9 billion Aussie retail giant sacked over workplace relationship</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h2><strong><span>Israel expands operations in Gaza City</span></strong></h2></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The report was handed down even as the Israeli military announced that its expanded operation in Gaza City "to destroy Hamas' military infrastructure" has begun and warned residents to move south.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel's Arabic language spokesperson, Avichay Adree, announced the expansion of Israel's operation on X, after a night of heavy strikes against northern Gaza that killed at least 20 people.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel has been warning the famine-stricken Gaza City residents to evacuate for the past month ahead of the operation but many have said they are unable to evacuate due to overcrowding in Gaza's south and the high price of transport.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Earlier in the day, Defence Minister Israel Katz said that "Gaza is burning" as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio left Israel for Qatar, where he planned to meet with officials there still incensed over Israel's strike last week that killed five Hamas members and a local security official.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/dreamworld-development-application-for-expanded-precinct-covers-koala-habitat-jarrod-bleijie-queensland-news/cae8a296-b2f6-4add-b461-f3f940825e9d"><strong><span>Koala habitat to be removed under proposed Dreamworld expansion plans</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While Arab and Muslim nations denounced the strike at a summit on Monday, they stopped short of any major action targeting Israel, highlighting the challenge of diplomatically pressuring any change in Israel's conduct in the grinding Israel-Hamas war.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Rubio, speaking to journalists before his departure, suggested the offensive on Gaza City had begun.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen," Rubio said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We don't have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks so it's a key moment — an important moment."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Our preference, our No. 1 choice, is that this ends through a negotiated settlement," he added, while acknowledging the dangers an intensified military campaign posed to Gaza.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The only thing worse than a war is a protracted one that goes on forever and ever," Rubio said. "At some point, this has to end. At some point, Hamas has to be defanged, and we hope it can happen through a negotiation. But I think time, unfortunately, is running out."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/riverstone-gas-leak-sydney-death-police/5abf28d3-cf8a-46e9-a303-e93870eb0017" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>One dead, several injured from gas leak at Sydney restaurant</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Intensity of strikes in Gaza City grows</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After weeks of threatening an expansion of the Israeli military operation in Gaza City, Katz signalled it had begun.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Gaza is burning," he said early on Tuesday morning. "The (Israel military) is striking with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and soldiers are fighting heroically to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The United Nations estimated on Monday that over 220,000 Palestinians have fled northern Gaza over the past month, after the Israeli military warned that all residents should leave Gaza City ahead of the operation. An estimated 1 million Palestinians were living in the region around Gaza City before the evacuation warnings.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>At least 20 Palestinians killed in Gaza City</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes across Gaza City on Tuesday morning.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The city's Shifa Hospital said it received the bodies of 20 people killed in a strike that hit multiple houses in a western neighbourhood, with another 90 wounded arriving at the facility in recent hours.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"A very tough night in Gaza," Dr Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa Hospital, told The Associated Press</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The bombing did not stop for a single moment," he said. "There are still bodies under the rubble."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Israeli military did not respond to immediate requests for comment on the strikes but in the past has accused Hamas of building military infrastructure inside civilian areas, especially in Gaza City.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/craig-mclachlan-abandons-stage-comeback-cluedo-after-casting-prompts-aggressive-social-media-campaign/160e1902-7815-41a3-968a-4dc012a073c3"><strong><span>Craig McLachlan drops out of Cluedo stage show after 'aggressive' backlash</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Families of hostages beg Netanyahu to halt the operation</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Overnight, families of the hostages still being held in Gaza gathered outside of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence, pleading with him to stop the Gaza City operation.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Some pitched tents and slept outside his home in protest.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I have one interest — for this country to wake up and bring back my child along with 47 other hostages, both living and deceased, and to bring our soldiers home," Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is being held in Gaza, shouted outside Netanyahu's residence.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"If he stops at nothing and sends our precious, brave, heroic soldiers to fight while our hostages are being used as human shields — he is not a worthy prime minister," Zangauker.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel believes around 20 of the 48 hostages still held by the militants in Gaza, including Matan, are alive.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Both Netanyahu and Rubio said on Monday that the only way to end the conflict in Gaza is through the elimination of Hamas and the release of the hostages, setting aside calls for an interim ceasefire in favor of an immediate end to the conflict.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Hamas has said it will only free remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>:</span></em></strong><span> </span><em><strong><span>Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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