The new report (described by the BBC as "detailed and damning") says there are reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out since the start of the war with Hamas in 2023: killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births.

It cites statements by Israeli leaders, and the pattern of conduct by Israeli forces, as evidence of genocidal intent.

¡°The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,¡± insisted Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission. ¡°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."

¡°The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza.¡±

Israel adamantly rejects the charge that it is committing genocide, saying it strives to avoid civilian casualties, and blames Hamas for putting noncombatants in harm¡¯s way. Israel¡¯s Foreign Ministry accuses the report¡¯s authors of being ¡°Hamas proxies.¡±

¡°The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others,¡± the ministry¡¯s statement says. ¡°Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry.¡±

The report said, however, said that Israel has committed four acts of genocide:

1. Killing members of the group: Palestinians were killed in large numbers through direct attacks on civilians, protected persons, and vital civilian infrastructure, as well as by the deliberate creation of conditions that led to death.

2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm: Palestinians suffered torture, rape, sexual assault, forced displacement, and severe mistreatment in detention, alongside widespread attacks on civilians and the environment.

3. Inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group: Israel deliberately imposed inhumane living conditions in Gaza, including destruction of essential infrastructure, denial of medical care, forced displacement, blocking of food, water, fuel, and electricity, reproductive violence, and starvation as a method of warfare. Children were found to be particularly targeted.

4. Preventing births within the group: The attack on Gaza¡¯s largest fertility clinic destroyed thousands of embryos, sperm samples, and eggs. Experts told the commission this would prevent thousands of Palestinian children from ever being born.

In addition to the genocidal acts, the investigation concluded that the Israeli authorities and security forces have the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip

Genocidal intent is often the hardest to prove in any genocide case. But the authors of the report have found ¡°fully conclusive evidence¡± of such intent.

They cited statements made by Israeli authorities, including President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant - who served as defence minister for much of the war - as direct evidence of genocidal intent.

The commission said it identified six patterns of conduct by Israeli forces in Gaza that support an inference of genocidal intent:

1. Mass killings: Israeli forces have killed and seriously harmed an unprecedented number of Palestinians since 7 October 2023, mostly civilians, using heavy munitions in densely populated areas. By 15 July 2025, 83 percent of those killed were civilians, the report found. Nearly half were women and children.

2 Cultural destruction: The systematic leveling of homes, schools, mosques, churches, and cultural sites was cited as evidence of an effort to erase Palestinian identity.

3. Deliberate suffering: Despite three provisional orders from the ICJ and repeated international warnings, Israel continued policies knowing Palestinians were trapped and unable to flee, the commission said.

4. Collapse of healthcare: Israeli forces targeted Gaza¡¯s healthcare system, attacking hospitals, killing and abusing medical personnel, and blocking vital supplies and patient evacuations.

5. Sexual violence: Investigators documented sexualised torture, rape, and other forms of gender-based violence, describing them as tools of collective punishment.

6. Targeting children: Children were shot by snipers and drones, including during evacuations and at shelters, with some killed while carrying white flag.

Pillay, the Chair of the Commission, has a piece in the NYT:

"What does this mean for the international community? It means its obligations are not optional. Every state has an obligation to prevent genocide wherever it occurs. That obligation requires action: halting the transfer of weapons and military support used in genocidal acts, ensuring unimpeded humanitarian assistance, stopping the mass displacement and destruction, and using all available diplomatic and legal means to stop the killing. To do nothing is not neutrality. It is complicity."