UN Commission: The IDF Is Raping, Killing, & Torturing Palestinians
Chained Israeli protesters hold placards in a call for an end to the war in Gaza, during Britain's Foreign Secretary David David Lammy's visit, in Jerusalem, 16 August (Reuters/Latifeh Abdellatif)
Legacy media has conducted a near blackout of this damning report and the Biden administration is refusing to act to uphold international human rights law
by Qasim Rashid
Rape, torture, beatings, bombings, starvation, kidnappings, and indefinite detention of Palestinians summarize the third report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. The UN backed Commission submitted its third report to the General Assembly weeks ago, and yet legacy media has continued to pretend it does not exist.
The UN Commission also documents and condemns war crimes committed by Hamas—including taking of Israeli hostages. It does not make excuses for, or defend those war crimes. In doing so, the UN Commission demonstrates its objectivity, reemphasizing the fact that war crimes do not justify more war crimes.
While I encourage everyone to read the full report linked above, I want to focus on three key findings from this report, that of course, legacy media is underreporting.
The Israeli military attacks on healthcare facilities and the impact that has on reproductive healthcare for women and pediatric care for children.
The allegation from the Israeli military that Hamas is using hospitals as military bases.
The treatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
1. Israeli military attacks on healthcare
The UN Commission cites the World Health Organization to detail Israel’s extensive attacks on healthcare facilities—which are war crimes. The data is daunting. Between 7 October 2023 and 30 July 2024, the Israeli military:
Carried out 498 attacks on healthcare facilities in the Gaza Strip.
747 persons were killed directly in those attacks, 969 others were injured, and 110 facilities were affected.
78% of the attacks between 7 October 2023 and 12 February 2024 were carried out through military force, 35% involved obstruction of access, and 9% involved militarized search and detention operations.
The impact on women and reproductive healthcare has been nothing short of utterly devastating. The UN Commission reports:
Direct attacks on health-care facilities, including those offering sexual and reproductive health care and services, have affected about 540,000 women and girls who are of reproductive age in Gaza.
The Basmah in vitro fertilization centre, the largest fertility clinic in Gaza, was the direct target of air strikes in December 2023 that reportedly resulted in the destruction of approximately 3,000 embryos.
Women have increasingly been forced to give birth in unsafe conditions at home or in shelters or camps, with little or no medical support, increasing the risk of complications resulting in life-long injuries and death.
Obstetric emergencies and premature births have reportedly surged because of stress and trauma. An increase in miscarriages of up to 300% has been reported. Experts told the Commission that the long-term psychological and physical effects of such precarious conditions for women, newborns and the family remain unknown.
Similarly, the Israeli military attacks on hospitals has left the most vulnerable among us—our children—to suffer unimaginable horrors. Yet, these horrors unfold right before our eyes. The UN Commission reports about the impact of Israel’s siege on children:
Medical professionals told the Commission that they have treated children with direct gunshot wounds, indicating direct targeting of children.
In June, the United Nations Children’s Fund estimated that almost 3,000 malnourished children were at risk of dying owing to the lack of food in southern Gaza.
Hospitals in Gaza can no longer offer mental health treatment and have few specialized staff to treat children suffering psychological conditions, including those exhibiting suicidal and self-harming thoughts.
Doctors told the Commission that, as a result of attacks on medical facilities and the limited treatment options available, infants and children in Gaza would likely suffer well into their adulthood.
Now, the Israeli government claims all of this suffering is justified, and their attacks on hospitals are justified. Why? Because, as Netanyahu continues to claim, Hamas is using these hospitals for military purposes, including as “command-and-control” centers. The independent UN Commission directly rebukes this claim.
Allegation that Hamas uses hospitals as a military base
Did Hamas use hospitals in Gaza as their secret military bases? The UN report tackled this important question in detail. International Human Rights Law makes it explicitly clear that hospitals and medical institutions are protected from attack. The exception that IHL recognizes is when a hospital or medical facility is used:
Outside their humanitarian functions [and] "act harmful to the enemy". In case of doubt as to whether medical units of establishments are used to commit an "act harmful to the enemy", they should be presumed not to be so used.
And though IHL does not explicitly define the scope of “an act harmful to the enemy,” IHL clarifies that when in doubt—hospitals and medical institutions must remain protected. This means that in bombing 110 healthcare facilities, the Israeli military should have had explicitly clear knowledge that Hamas was using these facilities as “command-and-control” centers in violation of IHL. And if the Israeli government had explicitly clear knowledge, then they should have zero trouble providing ample evidence, example after example, that Hamas is using hospitals in violation of IHL.
On the contrary, the detailed UN Commission concluded the following:
Israeli security forces asserted that over 85% of major medical facilities in Gaza were used by Hamas for terror operations, but did not provide evidence to substantiate that claim. Israeli security forces alleged that there were tunnels underneath or connected to hospitals, and that Hamas stored weapons, hid personnel and operated headquarters from within and underneath hospitals. The Commission interviewed senior medical personnel at hospitals and they denied that there was any military activity, emphasizing that the hospitals’ only role was to treat patients.
Let’s unpack this. The Israeli military first claims that only 85% of the 110 medical facilities it targeted were used for “Hamas terror operations.” That means that it admits 15% of the medical facilities it targeted had no Hamas terror operations, but the Israeli military targeted them anyway. That in and of itself is a clear admission of war crimes. And that is all that should be necessary for the US Government, indeed the global West, to stop arming Netanyahu.
But adding to these war crimes is that even in the “85% (allegedly) legitimate targets,” the Israeli government could provide no evidence to substantiate its claims. The UN Commission found zero evidence from the Israeli government, or from a single senior medical personnel at the hospitals that any military activity occurred at the hospitals that the Israeli military bombed. Yet, the bombings continue, in complete violation of IHL. And given that these bombings are deliberate and intentional, I argue this satisfies the “intent” element of proving genocide. Indeed, beyond war crimes, the Israeli military bombing 110 hospitals and medical centers in Gaza, while knowing full well they are not Hamas military command centers, proves they are intentionally killing Palestinian civilians. That is genocide.
Treatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons
Finally, the UN Commission reports a ghastly scene on how the Israeli military is treating the tens of thousands of Palestinians it has arbitrarily arrested. Of the 14,000 Palestinians arbitrarily arrested from Gaza and the West Bank since October 7 of last year, at least 11,000 remain in Israeli custody—most without charge, due process, or access to counsel. They are hostages by any other name. And their mistreatment amounts to more war crimes. The UN Commission found that even after the Israeli military admits a detained Palestinian is of no threat, he or she remains arbitrarily detained without cause. The report additionally concludes these horrifying facts: