Image by Ash Hayes.

Gaza and the Conscience of Humanity

With an open heart and mind, over the past two years, the collective consciousness of the international community has witnessed the unfortunate truth behind Israel’s intentional slaughter of Palestinians, finding Israel guilty of committing genocide in Gaza. Daily bombing of hospitals and universities, targeted assassinations of children from a sniper headshot, and countless massacres don’t take years of public scrutiny to reach this conclusion. Being inundated with these daily images forces us to question the nature of our reality and the strength of our convictions. Being liable for this atrocity, the mainstream media forces us to give credence to the talking points of heartless, morally deprived Israeli propagandists as if the weight of their words carried validity. Unequivocally, we are witnessing one of the greatest crimes against humanity: the genocide of the Palestinian people. Today, September 16, 2025, we received confirmation from the United Nations Independent Commission.

Four Counts of Genocide: UN Ruling Against Israel

On September 16, 2025, the UN Independent Commission declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, confirming every major human rights report.

“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” insisted Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention,” according to UN News.

The commission found that Israel was committing four of five acts of genocide in accordance with the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: Killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.

The only dissent came from the expected state actor, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Meron, stating, “[the report] promotes a narrative serving Hamas and its supporters in attempting to delegitimize and demonize the state of Israel. The report falsely accuses Israel of genocidal intent, an allegation it cannot substantiate,” according to UN News.

Case Made. Justice Denied

Before the UN made their statement today, numerous human rights organizations had laid the groundwork, detailing the unfolding atrocities. These organizations include some of the most prominent organizations in the detailing of human suffering, including Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, Amnesty International, Physicians for Human Rights, Doctors Without Borders, International Association of Genocide Scholars, etc. Among these names is the Israeli human-rights organization, B’Tselem. B’Tselem recounts the human suffering imposed by Israel in Gaza.

“Its military onslaught on Gaza, underway for more than 21 months, has included mass killing, both directly and through creating unlivable conditions, serious bodily or mental harm to an entire population, decimation of basic infrastructure throughout the Strip, and forcible displacement on a huge scale, with ethnic cleansing added to the list of official war objectives.

This is compounded by mass arrests and abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, which have effectively become torture camps, and tearing apart the social fabric of Gaza, including the destruction of Palestinian educational and cultural institutions,” writes B’Tselem.

With mountains of compounding evidence, why is justice for Palestinians delayed? The legal framework exists to end the genocide, but the imbalance of power relies on the United States to force Israel to comply with the international rules-based order, succumbing to a legal reckoning.

“This [enforcement] is not a failure of legal clarity. It is the result of structural limitations, political obstruction, and the unwillingness of key actors to apply the law impartially.

The United Nations Security Council, mandated to maintain international peace and security, has been unable to adopt binding measures to protect healthcare in Gaza. Repeated vetoes by permanent members, especially the United States, have blocked resolutions calling for ceasefires, humanitarian access, and independent investigations,” writes the Palestine Center for Public Policy.

Justice Delayed Is Genocide Prolonged

What further legal mechanism remains to end this monumental human catastrophe? A year ago, September 18, 2024, the UN General Assembly passed resolution ES-10/24 requiring Israel to end the occupation within a year. Additionally, the UN will allow Palestinians to return to their “place of origin” prior to the occupation and require Israel to provide reparations for decades of living under occupation. I reached out to what some scholars consider the leading human rights organization in Palestine for comment on the latest proceedings.

“Recognizing that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is only the first and necessary step, but it is certainly not enough. The international community must act and take concrete measures in order to exert pressure on Israel to stop the genocide. The international community has a wide range of tools under international law, and it must move from words and formal acknowledgments to concrete actions,” said Yair Dvir, Spokesperson for B’Tselem, in an exclusive interview.

Last week, we were confirmed whether the United States respects international law and if all life holds the same intrinsic value. With the recent results of the Independent UN Investigation, an afterthought, U.S. Deputy Morgan Ortagus, draped in a legacy blood-soaked, damned the Palestinians to a grim horizon, nullifying potential security council actions that would end the genocide.

The post When Genocide Is Confirmed, But Nothing Changes appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

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