New Delhi [India], June 24 (ANI): The Palestinian Ambassador to India, Abdullah Abu Shawesh, has strongly criticised Israel and its allies following the release of a damning United Nations report, accusing Tel Aviv of meeting the legal criteria for genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking on the international findings, the Palestinian Ambassador to India, Abdullah Abu Shawesh, told ANI, “To classify a war as a genocide, there are five conditions. Out of the five conditions, three are applied to the Israeli action in Gaza. So, it’s a genocide according to the UN, Amnesty, Israeli human rights organisations. The only ones who are refusing and standing against the word ‘genocide’ are the Israeli officials, leaders and the Americans themselves."
The envoy’s remarks coincide with a report published on Tuesday by an independent United Nations Commission of Inquiry, which stated that Israeli forces continue to commit acts amounting to genocide against Palestinians in Gaza through the deliberate targeting of children.
The panel, which last year determined that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, noted that ongoing Israeli military operations have inflicted “unprecedented death, injury and trauma" on Palestinian children across the enclave.
Reflecting on the scale of the findings, the envoy emphasised that while the extensive documentation of casualties and atrocities has startled global observers, the systematic violence represents a long-standing historical pattern for the Palestinian population.
“I know this is a very shocking report not only to the international community but also to us who saw Israeli occupation a long time ago, Gaza ethnic cleansing in 1948. It is not surprising to us; we know how Israel is treating us and our people. But I am pretty sure that it is shocking for the international community to hear all these numbers. For Palestinians, it is not shocking; it is the reality. When you talk about the statistics that came in this report, I am pretty sure that every human being will be shocked and realise the meaning of Israeli occupation. They will realise that this is the exact meaning of genocide that has been conducted for years at the hands of the Israeli occupation," Ambassador Abu Shawesh stated.
According to the commission, the alleged deliberate targeting of children serves as a key indicator of what it described as Israel’s genocidal intent towards the Palestinian people.
Citing data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the report documented that Israel has persisted with airstrikes over the past eight months, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,000 Palestinians, including over 250 children.
The UN commission specified that children accounted for approximately 30 per cent of those killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Highlighting the devastating humanitarian toll of the ongoing conflict, particularly the unaccounted casualties among minors, the diplomat detailed the severe crisis gripping families across the enclave.
Expressing deep concern over the present situation, the ambassador added, “…When we talk about what happened to the Palestinian children in Gaza – we do not know where more than 5,000 of them are; missing, internally displaced. It seems that the vast majority of them have been killed. It is shocking, something that no one can imagine…"
The UN panel highlighted that these actions persisted even after a truce was implemented in Gaza.
“Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed to Palestinian children under international law," Srinivasan Muralidhar, chairman of the commission, was quoted as saying by CNN.
The report further detailed that conditions imposed on Gaza since the truce, including persistent attacks and restrictions on humanitarian and medical assistance, have caused “multi-layered harm to Palestinian children’s survival, health and development".
It also documented what it described as a systematic pattern of Israeli strikes on hospitals, health clinics, and reproductive healthcare facilities, warning of severe short- and long-term consequences for the physical and psychological well-being of children.
The latest findings follow a previous report by the UN panel released last year, which established that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and that Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had incited such acts.
Notably, Netanyahu is also the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government has repeatedly rejected the allegations of genocide and swiftly condemned the UN commission’s latest findings.
Israel’s foreign ministry dismissed the report as “a propaganda piece as outrageous as its previous ones", while Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, described it as a “political blood libel disguised as a UN document".
The US-backed ceasefire brokered in October brought an end to two years of war in Gaza, although the panel observed that “hostilities did not cease but rather were reduced".
Concurrently, Israel has accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire terms and refusing to disarm.
The report observed that a vast majority of Gaza’s population remains displaced in tents, while Israel continues to restrict the entry of reconstruction materials and heavy equipment, citing Hamas’s refusal to lay down its weapons.
Under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, an international security force was expected to deploy to Gaza during a gradual Israeli withdrawal.
However, the report stated that Israel has expanded its territorial control, referencing a statement by Netanyahu that Israeli forces now control 70 per cent of the enclave. (ANI)
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