Huge civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip (over 37,000 to date) and massive destruction of non-military infrastructure in the Strip are part of “a strategy of inflicting maximum damage” deliberate attack on the population– the first report of UN investigators into the conflict concluded on Tuesday.

Prepared International Independent Commission of Inquiry into Palestine, which analyzes, under a United Nations mandate, all events that have occurred since the terrorist attacks of October 7, concludes that Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In the case of Israel, the commission, chaired by veteran South African lawyer Navi Pillay, emphasizes that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has given its security forces carte blanche to broadly and indiscriminately attack civilian targets in the Gaza Strip.”

Dahiya Doctrine: Non-discrimination

This appears to be a response to the so-called Dahiya Doctrine, which takes its name from an area of ​​Beirut once controlled by Hezbollah militias, destroyed in 2006 by the Israeli air force and consisting of give a disproportionate response, without distinction between civilians and military personnel, attacks by armed groups, which appeared to be widespread in the Gaza Strip.

Thus, the UN report indicates that many Israeli military actions since the October terrorist attacks “No military targets have been identified that could serve as an argument launch an attack.”

They also often shoot to kill, without distinguishing what the targets are and whether they really pose a threat, According to the more than 200-page document, which details both the Hamas attacks on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent military response.

The report condemns “Total siege” of Gaza by Israel which, according to the same text, was identified by the same Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as a retaliatory measure in which “You are fighting animals and you have to act accordingly.”

In conflict there is “a clear intention to turn this need into an instrument and use it as a weapon, holding the population of Gaza hostage to achieve political and military goals.

The report, which will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on June 19, brings together testimony from victims, forensic analysis, satellite imagery and other evidence to conclude that Israel, Hamas and associated armed groups have committed serious violations of international law And “they must be held accountable” according to Pillay, a former judge at the International Criminal Court.

Accuses Israel of war crimes “the use of hunger as a weapon, murder, deliberate attacks on civilians, forced displacement, sexual violence, torture and arbitrary detention.”

He names Israel’s “crimes against humanity” as “extermination, gender-based persecution of men and boys” and others also discussed in the previous typology, such as forced deportations or cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees.

“Hannibal Directive”

In addition, the Israeli army used The “Anibal Directive”, advocating the use of all possible force. prevent the country’s soldiers from falling into enemy hands even at the cost of their lives during the October 7 terrorist attacks, the report says.

According to the document, On at least two occasions, Israeli forces complied with this directive. “resulting in the death of 14 Israeli civilians.”

In one of these cases An Israeli tank fired on 13 people held in a house on Kibbutz Be’eri. one was attacked by Hamas and other armed groups, and in the other a woman was killed by Israeli army helicopter gunfire during her abduction.

The presence of eight helicopters was also confirmed at the Nova festival, one of the main targets of the October attacks, although in this case the report emphasized that He could not confirm whether they were fired by civilians.

In the report, the commission, chaired by South African Navi Pillay, also assures that the Israeli forces’ response to the attacks “was significantly delayed in the first moments, and in many cases this was completely insufficient.”

“Some small groups of Israeli security forces “They arrived slowly, were insufficient in number and showed a lack of coordination,” concluded the document.

He also denounced that Israeli authorities are prioritizing identifying victims and delivering their bodies to their families for burial ahead of forensic examinations. which prevented the collection of evidence of abuses committed during the attacks, especially in matters of sexual offences.

Hamas also investigated

The report also examines in detail the 7 October attacks carried out by Palestinian armed groups, with abuses that According to the commission, they may also constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. carried out in the coordination of more than a thousand members of the military wing of Hamas and its associated militias.

They are reported in detail to contain more than 1200 people were killed, of these, at least 809 were civilians, 280 women, 40 children and 25 elderly people over 80 years old.

The document describes cases such as nine-month-old girl killed while trying to hide from her mother at Kibbutz Beeri, or the 79-year-old woman and her autistic granddaughter who were killed by terrorists because they walked too slowly and prevented them from retreating.

The report notes that at the Nova Music Festival: 364 participants died at the hands of Palestinian armed groups. some when they tried to escape or hide in public toilets, vehicles or dumpsters.

These attacks were not carried out in isolation, but repeatedly in different places, acts of sexual violence, such as the humiliation of women “displayed as trophies”, although it could not be confirmed whether rapes took place as reported at the time.

The report concludes that neither the October 7 attacks nor subsequent Israeli military actions in Gaza “needs to be considered separately” but as part of a cycle of violence and aggression against which the only way to act is to “guarantee full respect for international law.”

You might be interested > Hamas and Islamic Jihad present “positive” response to ceasefire in Gaza Strip

This includes, the commission emphasizes, put an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and discrimination, oppression and denial of the right to self-determination of its people.

(according to information from EFE)