Speaking at the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Iran’s representative Ali Bahreini referred to the September report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which concluded that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Bahreini stated that the Commission had reached “an alarming conclusion that we had previously cautioned against months earlier.”

The Commission, which has been investigating events since 7 October 2023, found that Israeli authorities and security forces committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention.

These include killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting life conditions intended to destroy the Palestinian population in whole or in part, and imposing measures to prevent births.

Bahreini said the Commission’s finding of dolus specialis, the specific intent to destroy a protected group, based on patterns of conduct and explicit statements by Israeli officials, represents a matter of “utmost legal gravity” under the Genocide Convention.

“As recalled by the Commission, all States Parties bear the erga omnes obligation to prevent and to punish genocide, as well as to refrain from rendering aid or assistance to its commission,” he said, stressing that no state should ignore the binding force of international law.

He condemned the genocide and the Western complicity, whether political, military, economic or otherwise.

“Genocide cannot be erased by silence; we will not surrender, our voice of justice shall endure,” Bahreini said.