Israeli warfare in Gaza falls within the hallmarks of genocide, a UN special committee said on Thursday, accusing the country of “using starvation as a method of war.”
The United Nations Special Committee pointed to “mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions deliberately imposed on Palestinians” in a new report covering the period from Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7 last year through July.
“Through its siege of Gaza, obstruction of humanitarian aid, in addition to targeted attacks and killings of civilians and aid workers, despite repeated UN appeals, binding orders of the International Court of Justice and Security Council resolutions, Israel is deliberately causing death and famine. and serious injuries,” the statement said.
Israel’s war practices in Gaza “are consistent with the hallmarks of genocide,” said the commission, which has been investigating Israeli practices that affect rights in the occupied Palestinian territories for decades.
Israel, it was argued, “used hunger as a method of war and imposed collective punishment on the Palestinian population.”
A UN-backed report last weekend warned that famine was looming in northern Gaza.
Thursday’s report documented how Israel’s extensive bombing campaign in Gaza had decimated essential services and unleashed an environmental disaster with lasting health consequences.
By February this year, Israeli forces had used more than 25,000 tons of explosives across the Gaza Strip, “the equivalent of two nuclear bombs,” the report said.
– AI-assisted targeting –
“By destroying vital water, sanitation and food systems and polluting the environment, Israel has created a deadly mix of crises that will seriously harm future generations,” the commission said.
The committee said it was “deeply alarmed by the unprecedented destruction of civilian infrastructure and the high death toll in Gaza,” where more than 43,700 people have been killed in the Hamas-run territory since the start of the war, according to the Health Ministry.
The staggering number of deaths raised serious concerns about Israel’s use of artificial intelligence-enhanced targeting systems in its military operations, according to the report.
“The Israeli military’s use of AI-enabled targeting, with minimal human oversight, combined with heavy bombs, underlines Israel’s disregard for its obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants and implement adequate safeguards to prevent civilian deaths,” the report said.
It warned that reported new guidelines lowering the criteria for selecting targets and increasing the previously accepted ratio of civilian to combatant casualties appeared to have enabled the military to use AI systems to “quickly generate tens of thousands of targets, and to targets to their homes, especially at night when families shelter together”.
The committee stressed the obligations of other countries to take urgent action to stop the bloodshed, saying that “other states are unwilling to hold Israel accountable and continue to provide the country with military and other support.”
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