UN accuses Israel and Hamas of crimes against humanity and war crimes

Report says Israel used sexual violence, torture and a campaign of settler violence in the occupied West Bank

A charity distributes food to Palestinians. Unicef on Tuesday said about 3,000 malnourished children in Gaza were at risk of dying. Reuters

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The findings of a UN investigation accuse Israel of committing crimes against humanity including "extermination" and "starvation as a method of warfare" in Gaza, while concluding that Palestinian armed groups have also committed war crimes.

The Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory released its first in-depth report on the war in Gaza since it broke out on October 7, based on interviews with victims and witnesses.

It concluded that Israel was responsible for crimes against humanity of extermination, gender persecution, forcible transfer, and torture of Palestinians in Gaza.

"The intentional use of heavy weapons with large destructive capacity in densely populated areas constitutes an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population," the report said.

More than 37,100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, with the injuries surpassing 84,800, since Israel launched its war on the besieged enclave in response to a Hamas attack that killed more than 1,100 people.

The commission said it also found evidence of Palestinian armed groups committing war crimes, including sexual violence during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, that triggered the war. The militants seized hostages in their raids on areas near the Gaza border.

"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."

Navi Pillay, chairwoman of the commission, said it was “imperative that all those who have committed crimes be held accountable”.

“Israel must immediately stop its military operations and attacks in Gaza, including the assault on Rafah, which has cost the lives of hundreds of civilians and again displaced hundreds of thousands of people to unsafe locations without basic services and humanitarian assistance,” she said.

The commission's report noted that "Israel obstructed the commission's investigations and prevented its access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory".

Israel's ambassador to the UN accused the commission of "systematic anti-Israeli discrimination" after the report was released.

Israeli air strikes have displaced Palestinians in Gaza numerous times and bombardment of areas deemed as safe has left civilians with limited options for refuge. Vast areas of the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, including most of its schools and hospitals.

The UN has issued warnings of famine in Gaza and over the lack of aid deliveries.

The United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, said on Tuesday that about 3,000 malnourished children in Gaza were at risk "of dying before their families".

The number equates to Unicef's estimate of how many children were receiving life-saving care in southern Gaza before Israel's military incursion into the southern city Rafah last month.

“Horrific images continue to emerge from Gaza of children dying before their families’ eyes due to the continued lack of food, nutrition supplies, and the destruction of healthcare services,” Unicef regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Adele Khodr, said in a statement.

The commission said Israel had imposed a "total siege" amounting a "collective punishment against the civilian population" by weaponising access to basic necessities such as food, water, fuel and electricity, going against the principles of humanitarian and international law.

It also said Israeli forces were using sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians in Gaza, including public stripping and forceful nudity aimed at humiliating the community and to "accentuate the subordination of an occupied people".

Violence and tension in the occupied territories has flared in the backdrop of the war in Gaza.

Similarly, the commission accused Israeli forces of committing "acts of sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity, all of which are war crimes" in the occupied West Bank.

It also found that Israel allowed and "instigated a campaign of settler violence against Palestinian communities" in the West Bank.

The report will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next week.