\n Israel has dismissed as biased a UN inquiry that found it committed crimes against humanity, including that of \"extermination,\" in its war against Hamas in Gaza.\n<\/p>\n
\n The report, the first such in-depth investigation by UN experts into the Gaza war, also found that Israeli and Palestinian armed groups had both committed war crimes.\n<\/p>\n
\n Released Wednesday, the UN's Independent Commission of Inquiry found Israel \"has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity\" and other international law violations.\n<\/p>\n
\n The report noted \"a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Israel's foreign ministry said the commission is \"biased and tainted by a distinct anti-Israeli agenda\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The report \"describes an alternate reality in which decades of terrorist attacks have been erased\", it said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"There are no continuous missile attacks on Israeli citizens and there isn't a democratic state defending itself against a terrorist assault.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n In its statement released late Wednesday the ministry added: \"To add insult to injury, the report is full of false accusations and blood libels against IDF (Israeli army) soldiers.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The Gaza war began with Hamas's October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.\n<\/p>\n
\n Militants also seized 251 hostages, of whom 116 remain in Gaza, though the Israeli army says at least 41 of them are dead.\n<\/p>\n
\n Israel's retaliatory offensive in the Gaza Strip has left more than 37,000 people dead, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged international law violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.\n<\/p>\n
\n The commission also found that members of Hamas and other armed groups participating in the October 7 attack \"deliberately killed, injured, mistreated, took hostages and committed sexual and gender-based violence\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Hamas and Palestinian armed groups must immediately cease rocket attacks and release all hostages,\" said Navi Pillay, a former UN rights chief and ex-International Criminal Court judge who chairs the three-person commission.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hamas has not yet commented on the UN report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel has dismissed as biased a UN inquiry that found it committed crimes against humanity, including that of \"extermination,\" in its war against Hamas in Gaza. The report, the first such in-depth investigation by UN experts into the Gaza war, also found that Israeli and Palestinian armed groups had both committed war crimes. Released Wednesday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-133176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n