Israel has vehemently denounced a UN probe’s findings that it deliberately targeted Gaza’s healthcare system and abused Palestinian detainees, labelling the conclusions “outrageous.”
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry has accused Israel of deliberately destroying Gaza’s healthcare system, labelling it a concerted policy aimed at perpetrating war crimes and crimes against humanity.
According to the commission’s report, released Thursday, Israel’s relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities amount to extermination, a grave violation of human rights and international law.
In a statement from its mission in Geneva, Israel said: “This latest report is another blatant attempt by the CoI to delegitimise the very existence of the State of Israel and obstruct its right to protect its population while covering up the crimes of terrorist organisations.
“This report shamelessly portrays Israel’s operations in terror-infested health facilities in Gaza as a matter of policy against Gaza’s health system, while entirely dismissing overwhelming evidence that medical facilities in Gaza have been systematically used by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad for terrorist activities.”
Israel also rejected accusations of widespread and systematic abuse of Palestinian detainees, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The mission said: “Israel is fully committed to international legal standards regarding the treatment of detainees. This includes prohibition of excessive use of force and ill-treatment.”
It accused the commission of creating an “alternate reality” and thereby contributing to “the exacerbation of this conflict.”
It said: “We call on states to speak out against this prejudiced approach, which only serves to further stain the credibility of the Human Rights Council and the United Nations at large.”
The three-person commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged international law violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, was publishing its second report since Hamas’s October 7 attack a year ago, which sparked the ongoing war.
Israel invaded the Gaza Strip after last year’s October 7 attack by Hamas militants that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,000 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN has described as reliable.
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