This is not the first time Israel has faced accusations of genocide, with a case brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December arguing its conduct in Gaza breaches the UN’s Genocide Convention – a claim Israel has strongly denied.
The Israeli ministry said it was Hamas which uses “civilians as human shields” and that Israel was not targeting the people of Gaza.
“Israel remains fully committed to facilitating the continuous flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the ministry added.
Aid groups, including UN agencies, frequently say they face major obstacles, particularly administrative problems, in carrying out their activities in the Palestinian territory, which is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis.
The report was prepared by a special United Nations committee, created in 1968 and tasked with investigating Israeli practices in the occupied Palestinian territories, after Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip a year earlier.
It is due to be presented to the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas’s unprecedented Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war had reached 43,846.
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