Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Friday, October 9, 2026
From the Liveblog of
Friday, October 9, 2026
Nobel peace committee says not up to it to decide if Gaza war constitutes genocide, after awarding prize to head of UN panel which said it was
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleThe Nobel peace committee says that it is not saying whether Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza amounted to genocide, after it honored South Africa’s Navi Pillay, who headed a UN committee last year that said just that.
“It’s her report, the Commission’s report, and of course we have great faith in her professionalism, in her integrity, but that work is of a UN inquiry commission. It will be decided by the international ICJ, the international court… So the Nobel Committee is not the court,” Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, tells AFP when asked to comment.
Israel has denied all accusations of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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