Israel has denounced as “outrageous” a U.N. investigation that concluded there was a deliberate attempt to destroy the Gaza Strip’s health care system and accused the mission of bias.
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) released a report Thursday finding that Israel “conducted a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s health system.”
The country is “committing crimes against humanity and war crimes of extermination through persistent and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities,” it said.
Israel categorically rejected the claims in a statement from its mission in Geneva on Friday.
“This latest report is yet another blatant attempt by the Joint Commission to delegitimize the very existence of the State of Israel and interfere with its right to protect its people, while covering up the crimes of terrorist organizations.” said the statement.
Israel claimed that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was using the hospital for military purposes. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked medical facilities in the Gaza Strip, with the medical sector already overwhelmed and infrastructure destroyed.
“This report shamelessly depicts Israel’s activities in Gaza’s terror-infested medical facilities as a matter of policy towards Gaza’s healthcare system,” the Israeli statement said.
Israel also rejected the report’s findings, which pointed to widespread and systematic mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners of war, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel has arrested thousands of Palestinians during the Gaza war, has been accused of numerous cases of torture, and is subject to extensive torture of prisoners in arbitrary and long-term incommunicado detention, according to UN officials and media reports. The report points out suspicions of abuse and sexual abuse. of men and women.
But Israel accused the commission of creating an “alternative reality” and thereby contributing to “the escalation of this conflict.”
“We call on states to oppose this biased approach, which only further undermines the credibility of the Human Rights Council and the United Nations as a whole.”
The report is the second released by the three-person commission since the October 7 attack by Hamas that started the current conflict. The commission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged violations of international law in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
“Collapse of international order”
Separately, UN special rapporteurs issued a joint statement on Friday warning that “the international legal order is collapsing in the face of these atrocities” in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“The world is facing the most serious crisis since the end of World War II,” the expert group said, adding that “an escalation in brutal violence” has led to “genocidal attacks, ethnic cleansing, and collective punishment of Palestinians.” “There is a risk of destruction for the Palestinian people,” he added. Collapse the international multilateral system. ”
Legal measures adopted to deal with this situation have so far not yielded the desired results.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others related to the Gaza war remains pending, while the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is seeking to prevent genocide in Gaza. The interim measures ordered have not been implemented. .
“Defying overwhelming public opinion throughout the international community, Israel continues to act in brazen disregard for international law and order,” the statement said.
The failure to stop Israel’s actions in Gaza “not only enabled the continuation of unprecedented atrocities, but also spread them to a wider area and set Lebanon ablaze with violence and destruction.”
The signatories, including Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories, said: “Everyone, including state actors and individuals, must ensure respect for international law and human rights, without discrimination or double standards. He demanded that it be prioritized.
