KEY POINTS
- 78 Palestinians killed as Israel expands ground assault on Gaza City.
- UN inquiry finds genocide, accusing Israel’s top leadership of intent to destroy Palestinians.
- Gaza death toll reaches 64,964, with over 165,000 wounded since October 2023.
- Famine crisis worsens as 428 starvation-related deaths are reported, including 146 children.
- UN rights chief, EU, Sweden, and Germany denounce Israeli assault.
- Israeli rights groups call evacuation orders “ethnic cleansing.”
- Netanyahu acknowledges isolation, as Western allies impose arms curbs and move to recognise Palestine.
GAZA CITY, Palestine: Israeli military pushed deeper into Gaza City on Tuesday in its most extensive ground assault since the war began, killing at least 78 more Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, amid worsening humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave.
The latest escalation came as a United Nations inquiry concluded that Israel’s nearly two-year war in Gaza amounts to genocide, a finding echoed by the world’s leading genocide scholars.
Rising Death Toll
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 68 people were killed in Gaza City alone, with another 10 killed in strikes across the Palestinian enclave. Three Palestinians also died of starvation, bringing the total number of famine-related deaths since October 2023 to 428, including 146 children, the ministry said.
The health ministry added that at least 64,964 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s campaign began, with more than 165,000 wounded. “Many victims remain trapped under rubble as rescuers are unable to reach them,” the ministry said.
Doctors warned that hospitals are at breaking point, with shortages of food, fuel and medicine threatening the lives of premature babies and other vulnerable patients.
UN Panel Finds ‘Genocide’
A report released Tuesday by the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel said Israel’s actions in Gaza meet four of the five genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
“It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza,” the panel, led by former UN rights chief Navi Pillay, said. The commission attributed responsibility to Israel’s top leadership, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.
“It is clear there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”
UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry's report shows #Israel has committed #genocide in #Gaza.https://t.co/UGjepPwmwo pic.twitter.com/rTJhFeKsvA
— United Nations Geneva (@UNGeneva) September 16, 2025
The commission called on the international community to take steps to end the genocide and hold Israeli officials accountable. It also attributed responsibility for the alleged crimes to Israel’s top leadership, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, citing incitement and policy decisions during the ongoing war in Gaza.
Israel dismissed the UN findings as “distorted and false”, accusing the inquiry of anti-Israel bias.
Meanwhile, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, a body of more than 500 academics, issued a resolution stating that Israel’s policies “meet the legal definition of genocide”.
According to the Associated Press, Melanie O’Brien, the group’s president and a professor of international law, said, “People who are experts in the study of genocide can see this situation for what it is.”
The resolution passed with 86 per cent approval among voting members, although only 28 per cent of the association’s membership participated — a typical rate for such votes, according to its bylaws.
Israel has refused to cooperate with the UN commission, accusing it and the Human Rights Council of systemic anti-Israel bias.
Earlier this year, Israel’s key ally, the United States, withdrew from the council under the Trump administration.
International Condemnation
Meanwhile, the UN rights chief on Tuesday condemned Israel’s ground assault on Gaza City as “utterly unacceptable”, demanding an end to the “carnage” and warning of growing evidence of genocide in the besieged Palestinian territory.
“It is absolutely clear that this carnage must stop,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told AFP and Reuters when asked about the launch of Israel’s ground assault on Gaza’s largest city.
“The whole world screams for peace. Palestinians, Israelis scream for peace. Everyone wants an end to this, and what we see is a further escalation which is totally and utterly unacceptable,” he said.
Turk highlighted that in recent days “we have seen expanding attacks in the northwestern parts of Gaza, where the population had sought shelter from previous attacks.”
He decried in particular “the ongoing bombardment of residential buildings, buildings that have served as shelters for people who have been displaced multiple times”. “These attacks need to stop.”
The European Union warned that Israel’s operation in Gaza City would bring “more destruction, more death and more displacement”.
Sweden’s foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the offensive “violates international law” and urged the EU to consider suspending trade provisions with Israel.
Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul condemned the operation as “a step in the completely wrong direction”, while the UN’s human rights chief Volker Turk described the assault as “utterly unacceptable” and called for an immediate halt to the “carnage”.
Forced Displacement
Several Israeli human rights organisations, including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Physicians for Human Rights, said evacuation orders for Gaza City amount to ethnic cleansing.
In a statement carried by Haaretz, the groups said the threats were intended to “displace an exhausted and starving population that has nowhere to flee”.
They warned that the measures “do not stem from military necessity” and contravene international law.
Netanyahu Warns of Isolation
Prime Minister Netanyahu acknowledged Israel faced growing isolation, telling a finance conference the country must prepare for reduced reliance on foreign arms and trade.
“We’ll need to develop our weapons industry – we’re going to be Athens and super Sparta combined,” he said.
His comments came as several Western allies, including France, Spain, UK, Canada and Australia, announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state and imposed partial arms embargoes. The United States remains Israel’s main weapons supplier.
Domestically, Netanyahu faced criticism from hostage families and former military officials who argued the Gaza City offensive endangered captives and risked further international backlash.
