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 include 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 then killing hospital staff, including a pregnant woman; and forcing women to give birth or get a C-section 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 a war crime and genocide by deliberately firing 335 rounds into a vehicle carrying 5- or 6-year-old Hind Rajab and six of her Palestinian family members, all of whom died except the girl and her teenage cousin, who called for help.
When an ambulance arrived to rescue the girls, Israel fired additional shots, killing the girl, teen and two medics.
Pillay said Israel initially denied the allegations, adding the UN needs to investigate the incident further but Israel will not allow it.
She added 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 told UN News. "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 to be true were Israel's claims. She added they were able to disprove some of them, including the "false" claim that Hamas beheaded 40 babies on Oct. 7, 2023.
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