United Nations (Web Desk): The United Nations (UN) says Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza's healthcare system.
A former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay in an inquiry report said that Israel carried out relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities in besieged Gaza.
“Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system,” Navi Pillay said.
The UN inquiry's statement also accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical personnel, targeting medical vehicles and restricting permits for patients to leave the besieged Gaza Strip.
It further stated that investigations had been conducted into the treatment of Palestinian inmates in Israel as well as captives taken by Hamas fighters during the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which was led by Hamas. Both sides were charged with torture and sexual assault.
The Inquiry has a broad mandate to collect evidence and identify suspected perpetrators of international crimes committed in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. It bases its findings on a range of sources including interviews with victims and witnesses, submissions and satellite imagery.
The panel has previously claimed that during the early phases of the Gaza War, both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes and that, due to the significant civilian casualties, Israel's conduct constituted crimes against humanity. The phrase is only used to describe the gravest transnational crimes that are purposefully carried out as a component of an extensive or well-planned assault on civilian targets.
Israel claims that the investigation is biased against it, which is why it has not cooperated. Israel has been charged by the committee with undermining its efforts and blocking investigators from entering both the Palestinian territory and Israel.
The evidence gathered by such UN-mandated bodies has sometimes formed the basis for war crimes prosecutions and could be drawn on by the International Criminal Court.
Meanwhile, four more Palestinians have been martyred in an Israeli army drone strike north of Gaza.
Israel's year-long invasion on Gaza has martyred over 42,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 97,800.
Separately, Israeli forces opened fire on a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) base in southern Lebanon on Friday, October 11, wounding two people. The previous day, the Israeli army had already fired three times at UN peacekeeping bases, also wounding two peacekeepers.