United Nations hosts panel on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

The United Nations is hosting a panel on Tuesday to determine whether Israel is committing the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people. 

The meeting, titled, "2023 War on Gaza: The Responsibility to Prevent Genocide," featured four panel members who have criticized Israel and its response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks that left about 1,200 people dead and 240 others kidnapped. 

Israel responded to the Oct. 7 attacks by bombing and then invading the Gaza Strip, where more than 17,000 people have died, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. 

"As the war continues in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian human rights organisations, Jewish civil society groups, Holocaust and genocide scholars, among others have warned that the crime of genocide may be committed against the Palestinian people," the United Nations said in an announcement about the panel.

Vice-Chair of the Palestinian Rights Committee Amb. Arrmanatha Nasir of Indonesia and Palestine Amb. Riyad Mansour gave opening remarks. 

The panel featured Jerusalem Fund Director Jehad Abusalim, a pro-Palestinian advocate who appeared to justify the Oct. 7 attacks on Oct. 7 in a X post. THe panel also includes Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Katherine Gallagher, who is an expert in "Palestinian Solidarity," according to her biography on her organization's website, as well as Law for Palestine legal advisor Hannah Bruinsma and Stockton University Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies Raz Segal. 

The panel did not include any advocates for Israel. 

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