The mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has for the first time described the situation in Gaza as a “genocide” against the Palestinian population.

The Labour mayor’s remarks follow a United Nations commission of inquiry which found Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel’s foreign ministry said it categorically rejected UN the report, denouncing it as “distorted and false”. “The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others,” it said. These fabrications have already been thoroughly debunked.”

Sir Sadiq made his remarks at a People’s Question Time event in White City, west London, on Wednesday night.

The twice-yearly forum sees the mayor and assembly members questioned about issues like transport, policing and housing.

Sir Sadiq said: “When I see the images of the children starving – 20,000 children have starved because of the policies of the Israeli government – when I see the health system in Gaza collapsed, when I see the lack of supplies reaching people in need, when I see the famine that is man made, when I read the interim judgment of the International Court of Justice and then see a UN commission report this week, I think it’s inescapable to draw the conclusion in Gaza we are seeing before our very eyes a genocide.”

Sir Sadiq’s comments come ahead of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting with US President Donald Trump on Thursday and the planned press conference.

Mr Trump and Sir Sadiq have been involved in a long-running spat.

The UN report, published on Tuesday, says there are reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out since the start of the war with Hamas in 2023:

• killing members of a group
• causing them serious bodily and mental harm
• deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group
• preventing births

The UN commission of inquiry has previously concluded that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and other grave violations of international law on 7 October 2023.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

At least 65,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen as reliable by the UN.

Most of the population has also been repeatedly displaced; more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and UN-backed food security experts have declared a famine in Gaza City.