Gaza Tribunal declares Israel committing genocide in Palestinian enclave

After 4 days of hearings in Istanbul, Jury of Conscience of Gaza People’s Tribunal issue final findings, accusing Israel of systematic exterminatory violence.

The Gaza Tribunal issued its final findings and “moral judgment” in Istanbul on Sunday, declaring that Israel is perpetrating genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and calling on the international community to take urgent action to stop it.

The statement concluded four days of public hearings, where international jurists, experts, and witnesses presented evidence and testimonies detailing systematic crimes. Christine Chinkin, chair of the Jury of Conscience, read the findings, emphasizing that the tribunal speaks “when law is silenced by power” and represents civil society’s response to a lack of accountability.

Range of Crimes
The jury described an ongoing genocide involving a “coherent and consistent pattern of exterminatory violence,” including:

-Destruction of homes, infrastructure, and cultural sites

-Weaponization of hunger and denial of medical care

-Forced displacement and systematic attacks on healthcare, education, and agriculture

-Reproductive targeting (reprocide) and genocide of knowledge (scholasticide)

-Political assassinations, disappearances, and attacks on journalists

-Torture, sexual violence, and gender-based crimes

The tribunal stressed that these acts are not collateral damage but instruments of collective punishment and genocide.

Accusations of Complicity
Western governments, particularly the United States, were accused of complicity through diplomatic cover, military support, and economic aid, while biased media, global supply chains, and technology companies were described as sustaining the war effort. The tribunal criticized the United Nations for failing to enforce accountability, though it commended UN Human Rights Council procedures.

Root Causes and Recommendations
The findings linked the violence to a century-long settler-colonial regime rooted in Zionism and supported by neo-colonial powers. Recommendations included:

-Holding all perpetrators and supporters accountable politically, economically, and militarily

-Suspending Israel from international organizations

-Activating the Uniting for Peace mechanism to protect Palestinian territories

-Upholding Palestinians’ right to self-determination and right of return

The tribunal clarified that its struggle is against Zionism as a racist, settler-colonial enterprise, not against Judaism or Jewish people, and called for a single rights-based political order founded on equality, decolonization, and restitution.

Gaza Tribunal Overview
Held at Istanbul University, the tribunal built on a year-long global effort including prior hearings in Sarajevo. It consisted of three chambers: International Law; International Relations and World Order; and History, Ethics, and Philosophy. Presided over by Richard Falk, former UN Special Rapporteur, the initiative aimed to produce a comprehensive “people’s record” of what participants assert amounts to genocide, apartheid, and systemic violations of international law in Gaza.

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