UN investigators say Israel committing genocide in Gaza

Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council has concluded.

The findings by the three-member team form the latest accusation of genocide against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government by rights advocates. Israel rejected what it called a “distorted and false” report.

The report calls on the international community to end the genocide and take steps to punish those responsible for it. However, the Israeli army has intensified its war on Gaza city overnight and into Tuesday, destroying infrastructure it says belongs to Hamas, and calling on people to leave.

Gaza city pounded as Israel steps up offensive

The panel, headed by former UN rights chief Navi Pillay, said Israel had committed four of the five “genocidal acts” defined under the Genocide Convention since the deadly October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel led by Hamas. They are: killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group and preventing births.

The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which was created four years ago, has repeatedly documented alleged human rights abuses and violations in Gaza and other Palestinian areas since October 7.

The Israeli army has intensified its war on Gaza city overnight and into Tuesday. AFP

“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” said Ms Pillay. “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.” The convention was adopted in 1948, three years after the end of the Second World War and the Holocaust.

Ms Pillay said “responsibility for the atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons” over the nearly two-year war.

Her team concluded that Mr Netanyahu, as well as Israeli President Isaac Herzog and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, had incited genocide. Israel has adamantly rejected genocide allegations against it as an anti-Semitic “blood libel.”

Israel's Foreign Ministry issued an angry response on Tuesday, saying it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report”.

“Three individuals serving as Hamas proxies, notorious for their openly anti-Semitic positions – and whose horrific statements about Jews have been condemned worldwide – released today another fake ‘report’ about Gaza,” it said.

While neither the Commission nor the 47-member state council that it works for within the UN system can take action against a country, the findings could be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court or the UN's International Court of Justice. The team does not speak for the United Nations.

Israel has refused to co-operate with the Commission and has accused it and the Human Rights Council of bias against it. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump's administration, a key benefactor of Israel, pulled the US out of the council, which is the UN's highest human rights body.

Genocide accusations are especially sensitive in Israel, which was founded as a haven for Jews following the Holocaust and where memories of the Holocaust still play an important role in the country’s national identity.

The experts said they pored over the conduct of Israeli security forces and “explicit statements” by Israeli civilian and military authorities, among other criteria.

In particular, the experts cited as factors the high death toll, Israel's “total siege” of Gaza and blockade of humanitarian aid that has led to starvation, a policy of “systematically destroying” the health care system, and direct targeting of children.

“The international community cannot stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” said Ms Pillay, who is a South African jurist. “When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has decried Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and spoken out forcefully against alleged crimes, but has not accused Israel of carrying out genocide.

His office, alluding to international law, has argued that only an international court can make a final, formal determination of genocide. Critics counter that could take years and insist that thousands of people, many of them civilians, are being systematically killed in Gaza in the meantime.

The International Court of Justice is hearing a genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel.

Four reasons global stock markets are falling right now

There are many factors worrying investors right now and triggering a rush out of stock markets. Here are four of the biggest:

1. Rising US interest rates

The US Federal Reserve has increased interest rates three times this year in a bid to prevent its buoyant economy from overheating. They now stand at between 2 and 2.25 per cent and markets are pencilling in three more rises next year.

Kim Catechis, manager of the Legg Mason Martin Currie Global Emerging Markets Fund, says US inflation is rising and the Fed will continue to raise rates in 2019. “With inflationary pressures growing, an increasing number of corporates are guiding profitability expectations downwards for 2018 and 2019, citing the negative impact of rising costs.”

At the same time as rates are rising, central bankers in the US and Europe have been ending quantitative easing, bringing the era of cheap money to an end.

2. Stronger dollar

High US rates have driven up the value of the dollar and bond yields, and this is putting pressure on emerging market countries that took advantage of low interest rates to run up trillions in dollar-denominated debt. They have also suffered capital outflows as international investors have switched to the US, driving markets lower. Omar Negyal, portfolio manager of the JP Morgan Global Emerging Markets Income Trust, says this looks like a buying opportunity. “Despite short-term volatility we remain positive about long-term prospects and profitability for emerging markets.”

3. Global trade war

Ritu Vohora, investment director at fund manager M&G, says markets fear that US President Donald Trump’s spat with China will escalate into a full-blown global trade war, with both sides suffering. “The US economy is robust enough to absorb higher input costs now, but this may not be the case as tariffs escalate. However, with a host of factors hitting investor sentiment, this is becoming a stock picker’s market.”

4. Eurozone uncertainty

Europe faces two challenges right now in the shape of Brexit and the new populist government in eurozone member Italy.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, which has offices in Dubai, says the stand-off between between Rome and Brussels threatens to become much more serious. "As with Brexit, neither side appears willing to step back from the edge, threatening more trouble down the line.”

The European economy may also be slowing, Mr Beauchamp warns. “A four-year low in eurozone manufacturing confidence highlights the fact that producers see a bumpy road ahead, with US-EU trade talks remaining a major question-mark for exporters.”