Israel and the Palestinians have accused each other of genocide at the United Nations

The war between Israel and Hamas was repeatedly mentioned during an event at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to mark the 75th anniversary of the Convention on the Prohibition and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

“The October 7 attacks by Hamas were motivated by the ideology of genocide,” Yeela Cytrin, legal adviser at the Israeli mission in Geneva, told diplomats gathered at the UN European headquarters.

Meanwhile, Palestinian representative Dima Asfour (Dima Asfurs) told the Council that the catastrophe caused by the massive Israeli bombardment and ground attack was a textbook case of genocide.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the militant attacks on October 7, which Israeli authorities say killed about 1,200 people. people, mostly civilians.

Hamas also took about 240 hostages, including young children and the elderly.

The group-run Gaza Health Ministry claims that 15,900 people have died in the territory since October 7. of persons, more than half of them are women and children.

The Genocide Convention, signed on December 9, 1948, was the first human rights treaty in UN history, adopted even before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed.

It was adopted after World War II to emphasize the horrors of the Holocaust and humanity’s duty to prevent and punish such acts of genocide.