Israel on Friday criticized a UN probe that concluded it was deliberately seeking to destroy healthcare in the Gaza Strip and abusing Palestinian detainees, calling the findings "outrageous."
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) stated that Israel had "perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza's healthcare system." It claimed the country is "committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination through relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities," in a report released Thursday.
Israel firmly rejected these allegations in a statement from its mission in Geneva.
"This latest report is another blatant attempt by the CoI to delegitimize the very existence of the State of Israel and obstruct its right to protect its population, while covering up the crimes of terrorist organizations," the statement said.
The report, according to Israel, "shamelessly portrays Israel's operations in terror-infested health facilities in Gaza as a policy against Gaza's health system, while entirely dismissing overwhelming evidence that medical facilities in Gaza have been systematically used by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad for terrorist activities."
Israel also denied accusations of widespread and systematic abuse of Palestinian detainees, which were described as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"Israel is fully committed to international legal standards regarding the treatment of detainees, which include a prohibition on excessive use of force and ill-treatment," the mission stated.
It accused the commission of creating an "alternate reality," thus contributing to "the exacerbation of this conflict."
"We call on states to speak out against this prejudiced approach, which only serves to further stain the credibility of the Human Rights Council and the United Nations as a whole."
The three-member commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged violations of international law in Israel and the Palestinian territories, published its second report since Hamas's October 7 attack last year, which sparked the ongoing war.
Israel invaded the Gaza Strip following the October 7 attack by Hamas militants, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has reportedly killed more than 42,000 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's Health Ministry, which the UN has deemed reliable.
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