Gaza’s Grim Reckoning
The United Nations Human Rights Council’s commission of inquiry has made perhaps its most damning pronouncement yet on the war in Gaza, concluding that Israel is responsible for committing genocide. The finding comes at a moment when international outrage has already peaked over the devastation caused in the nearly two years since the October 2023 Hamas attacks triggered a relentless military campaign. Tens of thousands have been killed, large swathes of Gaza have been reduced to rubble, and basic infrastructure has been systematically destroyed. The report cites a chilling array of evidence: a staggering death toll, the “total siege” of food and medicine, the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system, and the deliberate targeting of children. It is not the first time Israel’s conduct has been scrutinised, but the formal invocation of genocide under the Genocide Convention of 1948 — drafted in the shadow of the Holocaust — places the crisis in a category of unparalleled severity. This is not a term applied loosely by international law; it signifies the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. The commission has said that Israel meets four of the five criteria set out under the convention, putting its leadership in direct line of accountability. For Israel, a nation founded as a sanctuary in the aftermath of the Holocaust, the allegation strikes at its most sacred narrative and identity. Yet for the people of Gaza, the reality on the ground — starvation, displacement, and mass death — leaves little doubt that they are living through the deliberate destruction of their society.
Predictably, Israel has categorically rejected the findings, dismissing them as biased and politically motivated, a stance it has consistently taken against the Human Rights Council. It insists that the war is aimed at Hamas, not Palestinians as a people, and has bristled at any comparison with atrocity crimes historically committed against Jews. Genocide accusations are, indeed, profoundly sensitive in Israel, where Holocaust memory is central to national life. Yet the dismissal of evidence, the refusal to engage with investigators, and the persistent blockade on independent scrutiny of Gaza only reinforce perceptions that Israel has something to hide. In the eyes of much of the world, the moral weight of the report cannot be brushed aside with rhetorical indignation. While the Council and its commission lack enforcement power, their conclusions are likely to ripple through international legal and political forums. The International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice are both seized of cases concerning Israel’s conduct, and this report provides a painstakingly assembled evidentiary base for prosecutors. Already, South Africa’s case at The Hague has sharpened the debate over genocide, and Tuesday’s report will add momentum to demands for legal accountability. Whether or not courts eventually confirm the finding of genocide, the political and diplomatic consequences are unfolding in real time: more countries are considering halting arms sales, more civil society movements are pressing governments to act, and the reputational costs for Israel are deepening. For Washington and other Western capitals that continue to supply weapons and shield Israel from censure, the charge of complicity will grow harder to deflect.
At the heart of this crisis is a test of the international system itself. If a determination of genocide — the gravest of crimes in international law — can be made with such clarity, and yet the world does nothing, then the promise of “never again” rings hollow. The commission’s departing members, led by Navi Pillay, have issued a stark warning that silence is complicity. History has shown repeatedly that inaction in the face of overwhelming evidence of mass atrocity carries not just moral guilt but geopolitical cost, for it erodes trust in the very architecture of global justice. For Israel, continuing down this path risks cementing its pariah status and undermining its own long-term security by deepening the cycle of enmity. For Palestinians, the report validates their suffering but offers little immediate relief as bombs continue to fall and aid remains blocked. The longer this persists, the more radicalisation and despair will take root, condemning another generation to violence. The only responsible course now lies in urgent international action: halting arms transfers, pressing for accountability, ensuring humanitarian access, and demanding a political settlement that recognises the humanity of both peoples. To pretend that the law is powerless or that the facts are unclear is to abdicate responsibility. The world has been confronted with the word “genocide” not as a metaphor, but as a legal and moral indictment. It cannot be allowed to pass into the long catalogue of ignored warnings.
