ISRAEL is guilty of the crime of “extermination” in Gaza, a United Nations inquiry has found, saying that the country’s military has intentionally targeted health facilities and medical personnel.

In advance of the publication of the inquiry’s full report, which will be presented to the world body’s general assembly on October 30, former UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay accused Israel of “committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities” in Gaza.

“Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system,” she said.

The Israeli government claims that its attacks on hospitals and schools in Gaza target members of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. Hamas denies ever using medical facilities as command centres.

The investigators also accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical personnel, targeting medical vehicles and preventing patients from leaving Gaza.

Israel and Hamas have both come under fire from UN investigators for alleged war crimes following the Palestinian group’s attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year, during which 1,139 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage. 

The UN investigators have been clear that Israel’s actions constituted crimes against humanity because it has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians since. 

Ms Pillay called on Israel to “immediately stop” its “wanton destruction of healthcare facilities in Gaza.”

The report highlighted what it called one of “the most egregious cases” of Israeli attacks on the healthcare system, in which six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab was left to die along with other members of her family despite hours of pleading for help.

The report also cited “widespread and systematic abuse, physical and psychological violence and sexual and gender-based violence” in Israeli military camps and detention centres. 

In a statement from its mission in Geneva, Israel rejected the allegations.

“This latest report is another blatant attempt by the [UN commission of inquiry] to delegitimise the very existence of the state of Israel and obstruct its right to protect its population, while covering up the crimes of terrorist organisations.”

The statement complained that the “report shamelessly portrays Israel’s operations in terror-infested health facilities in Gaza as a matter of policy against Gaza’s health system.”