The United Nations, in its recent inquiry, stated that Israel orchestrated a consistent policy to dismantle Gaza’s healthcare system during the Gaza conflict. This behaviour was acknowledged as not only a war crime but also a massive Crime Against Humanity known as extermination.
Navi Pillay, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, revealed this accusation in a statement before the full report release. Pillay condemned Israel’s continuous and targeted attacks on medical staff and healthcare facilities during the war, which was initiated by a severe cross-border attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel on October 7th in the previous year.
Pillay emphasised the grave impact of these attacks on children who have suffered both directly and indirectly due to the healthcare system’s downfall. Her report will be submitted to the UN General Assembly on October 30th.
Israel insists that since militants from Gaza operate from populated areas like private houses, schools and hospitals, it will combat them regardless of their location, albeit trying to minimise civilian casualties. Hamas, on the other hand, denies using civilians as shields for militants, arms and commanding locations.
The UN investigation also levelled accusations at Israeli forces for purposeful killing and torture of healthcare workers, directing attacks towards medical vehicles and limiting the issuance of permits for patients needing to evacuate the besieged Gaza Strip. A case in point is the killing of a young Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, and her family members along with two medical responders attempting to save her whilst under Israeli fire in February.
According to the World Health Organisation, over 10,000 patients in dire need of medical evacuation could not leave Gaza after the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was closed in May. The Hamas-controlled health ministry discloses that almost 1,000 healthcare providers have been killed in Gaza within the last year, a statistic that the World Health Organisation describes as a devastating hit to the health system.
The UN statement also covered the investigation on the treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israel and individuals captured by Hamas fighters during the October 7th incursion, implicating both sides of participating in torture and sexual violence.
The investigative commission has been authorised to extensively gather evidence and identify likely culprits of globally recognised crimes carried out in Israel and the Palestinian territories under occupation. Their findings are reliant on a diverse array of sources such as the accounts of victims and witnesses, satellite images, and submissions.
In prior times, the commission has accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes during the initial stages of the Gaza conflict, with Israel’s actions also being classified as crimes against humanity due to the extensive civilian casualties. Such a term is used specifically for globally significant crimes consciously committed in the form of a systematic or widespread attack on civilians.
Israel has chosen not to collaborate with the investigative process, alleging that the investigation carries an anti-Israel preference. There have been accusations from the commission directed at Israel for hampering the investigation and disallowing investigators to enter both Israel and the Palestinian territories.
In some instances, the information amassed by such UN-authorised entities has served as the foundation for prosecutions for war crimes, and it has the potential to be used by the International Criminal Court, as per information released by Reuters.