UN Inquiry Member Says Genocide Claims Against Israel Unverified as Gaza Population Grows
A senior member of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Israel acknowledged that allegations of genocide in Gaza were not independently verified, while Palestinian Ministry of Health data shows the population grew in 2025, drawing sharp criticism from analysts who say the claims fueled antisemitism.
A senior member of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Israel has acknowledged that allegations of genocide in Gaza were not independently verified, a concession that critics say undermines the international body's September 2025 report accusing Israel of committing genocide in the enclave since October 2023.
Chris Sidoti, a commissioner on the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, was asked in an interview reported by JNS and posted on X whether the commission had independently established that the remainder of Palestinians said to be killed in the fighting were civilians. Sidoti replied, «No, we didn't because we don't have that information … We literally do not know, nor does anybody else know, including the IDF, how many militants were there.»
The admission comes as the Palestinian Ministry of Health's Health Information Unit released statistics on overall mortality in Gaza for 2025, the first update to include non-violent deaths since 2022, before the conflict that followed the October 7, 2023 terror attacks. The ministry reported 24,650 deaths registered in 2025, with 18,085, or 73.4 percent, being males and 6,565, or 26.6 percent, being females. Of those deaths, 17,286 cases, or 70.1 percent, were attributed to direct targeting in the war. The ministry also reported 50,227 live births in 2025.
Elliot Malin, president of the Stratos Council, told Fox News Digital that the ministry data is further evidence against accusations of genocide. With live births far exceeding deaths in 2025, Malin said it is «very hard for us to infer the intent of Israel was to destroy Palestinians in Gaza to a substantial portion.» He added, «We're not seeing a population under threat. We are seeing that it is actually able to sustain itself.»
Malin also took issue with the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declaration last year that famine had reached Gaza in the summer of 2025. He argued that if the population is sustaining and growing through what was called a famine, it indicates there was enough caloric intake to sustain the population. The IPC did not respond to questions about how the new information affects its prior declaration.
Gabriel Epstein, senior policy associate at the Israel Policy Forum, likewise told Fox News Digital that widespread allegations of genocide are not supported by the ministry report. He said the report «absolutely» demonstrates population growth in 2025, adding that it would «be surprising» if the population of Gaza, «one of the youngest … in the world,» was not growing. While he said it is impossible to discern the actual rate of population growth given factors like emigration and immigration, Epstein said the argument that there was negative population growth in 2025 would require more than doubling the number of both violent and non-violent deaths.
Epstein said the latest data is strong proof against statements from external organizations that used estimates and ratios of non-violent deaths from other conflict zones to suppose the ministry's ongoing death toll count was inaccurate and that deaths had likely reached multiple hundreds of thousands. Those estimated figures, he said, were largely used to drive the narrative that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. He noted that current ministry figures «really eliminate the possibility that there is a much higher death toll driven by non-violent or non-trauma deaths.»
Andrew Fox, senior associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that «the data now shows that there was no famine in Gaza.» He said the allegations play into «the ages-old blood libel of Jews killing children and undoubtedly stoked the global fires of antisemitism. Agencies and the media who shared these false allegations have blood on their hands.»
The September 2025 commission report cited an article from the Guardian stating that 83 percent of Gazans killed in the conflict were civilians. Israel has slammed the UN report as a «political blood libel» for alleging deliberate targeting of Palestinian children. The former chair of the commission, Navanethem «Navay» Pillay, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week.
In the ministry's favor, Epstein said the current tranche of figures supports a real attempt at honest accounting from the health organization, which had been accused of inflating civilian casualties, particularly those of women and children, during the early days of the war. In its latest report, however, the ministry does not distinguish how many terrorists were among those killed in the conflict.
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