A UN investigation concluded on Wednesday that Israel has committed crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza, including that of 'extermination', while saying Israeli and Palestinian armed groups have both committed war crimes.
The independent Commission of Inquiry's report - the United Nations' first in-depth investigation into the events of the war that erupted on October 7 - found that Israeli troops have conducted 'a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza'.
'The commission found that the crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; genderpersecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed,' it added.
The report noted Israel had committed various war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL).
But Israeli officials immediately rejected the conclusions by accusing the UN commission of 'systematic anti-Israeli discrimination'.
A Palestinian boy checks debris around a pool of blood at a UN-school housing displaced people that was hit during Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on June 6, 2024
A ball of fire and black smoke rises moments after an Israeli air strike targeted a residential building in the city of Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on June 3, 2024
Palestinian men walk along a narrow street past destroyed buildings in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on June 11, 2024
Palestinians check a UN-school housing displaced people that was hit during Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on June 6, 2024
A woman holds the hand of a boy killed in an Israeli airstrike at a UN school housing displaced Palestinians in Nuseirat, at a hospital ground in Deir el-Balah, on June 6, 2024
Palestinians transport some salvaged belongings as they leave the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip after they returned briefly to check on their homes on May 31, 2024
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
The Gaza war broke out after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of almost 1,200 people.
The commission found that in that attack, members of the military wings of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups and Palestinian civilians committed war crimes, as well as violations and abuses of IHL and IHRL.
Militants seized 251 hostages, of which 116 remain in Gaza, though the Israeli army says 41 of them are dead.
The Israeli army in response launched a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip that has left more than 37,000 people dead, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry.
Although the investigation harshly condemned the Israeli crimes, a parallel report also concluded that members of Hamas, other Palestinian armed groups and civilians participating in the October 7 attack 'deliberately killed, injured, mistreated, took hostages and committed sexual and gender-based violence'.
These acts, committed against civilians and members of the Israeli security forces, 'constitute war crimes and violations and abuses of IHL and IHRL', it said.
The commission further said it found 'significant evidence on the desecration of corpses, including sexualised desecration, decapitations, lacerations, burning, severing of body parts and undressing'.
'Women were subjected to gender-based violence during the course of their execution or abduction. Women and women's bodies were used as victory trophies by male perpetrators.'
Many children who witnessed their relatives being killed were 'also filmed for propaganda purposes', with the commission finding it 'particularly egregious that children were targeted for abduction'.
The report said Israeli authorities 'failed to protect civilians in southern Israel on almost every front'.
Smoke billows following Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 25, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas
Palestinians evacuate bodies found in the rubble in the Tal Al-Hawa neighbourhood in southern Gaza City on June 5, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas
A Palestinian girl watches as others check a UN-school housing displaced people that was hit during Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on June 6, 2024
A man mourns by the body of a relative reportedly killed in an Israeli strike on the western Rimal neighbourhood, at Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City's al-Zaitoun neighbourhood on June 5, 2024
A woman looks at newly dug graves for the victims of the October 7th attack during the funeral of Albert Miles, 80, who was killed in his home in Kibbutz Beeri in the deadly infiltration of Israel by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, at the cemetery in Kibbutz Revivim, in southern Israel, October 30, 2023
October 11, 2023 - Kfar Aza, Israel: Soldiers crying at the sight of a family dining table
Members of Army rescue and ZAKA crews search for bodies and body parts after the Hamas and Palestinians militants attack on the Kibbutz on October 22, 2023 in Be'eri, Israel
Relatives and supporters of Israelis taken hostage by Palestinian militants in Gaza in the October 7 attacks, demonstrate calling for their release in the central city of Tel Aviv on June 8, 2024
Palestinians inspect a vehicle with the logo of the World Central Kitchen wrecked by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, April 2, 2024
People inspect the site where World Central Kitchen workers were killed in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, April 2, 2024
Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas in Gaza, greets his supporters during a meeting with leaders of Palestinian factions at his office in Gaza City, Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Israel Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant makes a joint statement with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, after their meeting about Israel's military operation in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Dec. 18, 2023
The UN investigation also found the Israeli authorities 'responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity'.
Starvation will affect the Gaza population, particularly children, 'for decades to come', the report said, while 'the siege it imposed... constitutes collective punishment and reprisal against the civilian population, both of which are clear violations of IHL.'
In the West Bank, the commission found that Israeli forces committed acts of sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity, 'all of which are war crimes'.
Israel's government and forces 'permitted, fostered and instigated a campaign of settler violence against Palestinian communities' in the territory, the commission added.
The report is based on interviews with victims and witnesses conducted remotely, and in Turkey and Egypt, and through studying thousands of verified open-source items, satellite imagery and forensic medical reports, the commission said.
'Israel obstructed the commission's investigations and prevented its access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory,' it added.
The report is due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next week.
The unprecedented Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged violations of IHL and IHRL in Israel and the Palestinian territories, but since October 7 has been almost fully focused on the Gaza war.
'It is imperative that all those who have committed crimes be held accountable,' said the commission's chair Navi Pillay, a former UN rights chief and an ex-International Criminal Court judge.
'Israel must immediately stop its military operations and attacks in Gaza.
'Hamas and Palestinian armed groups must immediately cease rocket attacks and release all hostages. The taking of hostages constitutes a war crime.'
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike where displaced people were staying in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 27, 2024
Palestinian kids walk among the debris of buildings collapsed by Israeli attacks after the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza City, Gaza on June 12, 2024
Palestinians look at the aftermath of the Israeli bombing in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, on June 8, 2024
Yossi Cohen, who until 2021 was the chief of the Mossad, allegedly tried to intimidate an International Criminal Court prosecutor into abandoning a war crimes investigation
Former ICC prosecutorFatou Bensouda in 2015 launched a preliminary examination of crimes in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and opened a formal investigation in 2021
The commission's findings come weeks after it was revealed that the former head of Israel's national intelligence agency allegedly tried to intimidate an International Criminal Court prosecutor into abandoning a war crimes investigation.
Yossi Cohen, who until 2021 was the chief of the Mossad and a close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly embarked on a years-long campaign of threat-making and 'stalker' behaviour toward Fatou Bensouda.
The Gambian-born prosecutor in 2015 launched a preliminary examination of crimes inGaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalemby Israeli military and settlers.
But Cohen is said to havetold Bensouda shortly after the investigations began: 'You should help us and let us take care of you. You don't want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.'
Sources who spoke to The Guardian went on to describe 'despicable tactics' employed by Cohen - who was said to be working asNetanyahu's 'unofficial messenger' - in his underhand efforts to influence the prosecutor.
One described compared his behaviour to that of a stalker, while another saidCohen arranged to have spies obtain secret recordings of Bensouda's husband and take photographs of the pair on a trip to London, which he later used to insinuate her family could be in danger.
