After five months of military operations, Israel has destroyed Gaza. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 13,000 children. Over 12,000 are presumed dead and 71,000 injured, many with life-changing mutilations. Seventy percent of residential areas have been destroyed. Eighty percent of the whole population has been forcibly displaced. Thousands of families have lost loved ones or have been wiped out. Many could not bury and mourn their relatives, forced instead to leave their bodies decomposing in homes, in the street or under the rubble. Thousands have been detained and systematically subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. The incalculable collective trauma will be experienced for generations to come. By analysing the patterns of violence and Israel’s policies in its onslaught on Gaza, this report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met. One of the key findings is that Israel’s executive and military leadership and soldiers have intentionally distorted jus in bello principles [see below for meaning], subverting their protective functions, in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people.¹

1. Source: a-hrc-55-73-auv.pdf (ohchr.org)
2. ‘jus in bello’ the body of international law regulating the conduct of combatants during war in order to minimize unnecessary damage and suffering:

“attacking an undefended, open city must be deemed a failure of jus in bello”

Note

1 This is the summary statement at the beginning of her relatively short report to the UN.