Israel seeks permanent Gaza control, Jewish majority in West Bank: UN inquiry

The Israeli government has shown a clear intent to establish permanent control over Gaza and to ensure a Jewish majority in the occupied West Bank, a United Nations commission said in a report on Tuesday.

The UN report details Israeli authorities' extensive, systematic demolition of civilian infrastructure in Gaza's corridors and buffer zone - resulting in Israel expanding control to 75 per cent of the Gaza Strip by July this year.

"Israeli forces have also intentionally altered the geography of Gaza" through the creation of military corridors, expanding the border buffer zone and establishing security zones, the report by the UN's Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said.

Israel maintains that its war is not against the population of Gaza but against Hamas, whose fighters led the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that precipitated the war.

The Israeli mission in Geneva dismissed the report's findings. "Hamas has genocidal intent towards Israel, the report has everything backwards. This Commission does not miss an opportunity to reveal its true character and politically-driven agenda."

The Commission also found that since October 2023, Israeli policies have demonstrated clear intent to forcibly transfer Palestinians, expand Jewish settlements, and annex the entire West Bank. "Increasing violent attacks by settlers have resulted in the forcible displacement of communities," the report stated. It also highlights military operations in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps, which resulted in destruction of homes and infrastructure and displacement of residents - actions the Commission deems unjustified militarily and tantamount to collective punishment.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has previously said the operation had reduced the threat from armed groups.

The report names several Israeli ministers, including Katz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister for National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as bearing primary responsibility for what the commission said were international crimes.

They were not immediately available for comment.

Israel cites historical ties to the West Bank, and disputes the widely held view that its settlements there are illegal.

The report, due to be presented to the UN General Assembly in October, found that by destroying civilian infrastructure and forcibly transferring the population, Israeli authorities had deliberately inflicted conditions of life calculated to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in Gaza - an underlying act of genocide.

Israeli actions had "deepened the misery of the Palestinian people and deprived them of resources indispensable for their survival, including the capacity to produce food," Navi Pillay, the head of the commission said in a statement.

Israel, which is continuing its ground operation in Gaza City, has vehemently rejected what it described as scandalous accusations made in a previous report by the same commission of inquiry on September 16 that it has committed genocide in Gaza.

Hamas' October 7 attack killed 1,200 people and its fighters captured 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The subsequent war in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people, according to local health officials. A global hunger monitor says part of the territory is suffering from famine.