A damning United Nations report has revealed Israel destroyed Gaza's healthcare system, committing war crimes and "deliberately" attacking medical personnel and facilities.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory presented its third report's findings during the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. From Oct. 7, 2023 through July 2024, the report found that Israeli security forces "deliberately killed, detained, and tortured medical personnel."
The list of findings included Israel targeting hospitals and issuing evacuation orders that "were not feasible" and "could not be implemented in a safe manner"; preventing wounded and sick Palestinians from leaving Gaza for medical care, including 54% of cancer patients who were denied passage; targeting hospitals they claimed Hamas was using without evidence and killing hospital staff, including a pregnant woman; and forcing pregnant women to give birth without medical support, according to the report.
Navi Pillay, the chairperson of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, told UN News the report's investigation was spurred by footage of Israeli forces committing what she described as a war crime and genocide when an Israeli tank deliberately fired rounds into a vehicle carrying 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her six family members.
The girl and her 15-year-old cousin survived and waited hours for help to arrive. When it did, Israel again fired rounds into the vehicle and into the arriving ambulance, killing the girl, her teenage cousin, and two medical personnel. In total, Israel fired 335 rounds in the Rajab family's vehicle.
Pillay said Israel has denied their involvement, but an investigation by Forensic Architecture proved otherwise. She added the UN would investigate the incident further but Israel will not allow it.
She went on to tell UN News that the report showed Israel is committing war crimes and genocide by targeting children.
"When you put the mass of evidence together, it's not just the numbers who have been killed, but the way children have been killed," she shared. "For instance, with bullets, [they] appeared to have struck [children] in the chest and the head, not just on the limbs, not while they were running away or something."
When asked about the veracity of the report's findings, Pillay said most of what her committee could not prove were Israel's claims. They did, however, disprove that Hamas beheaded 40 babies on Oct. 7, 2023.
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