Israeli government and military authorities are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during military operations and attacks in Gaza since October 7, 2023, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said in a report released Wednesday. The Commission also found that Palestinian non-state armed groups are responsible for war crimes committed in Israel.
“It is imperative that all those who have committed crimes be held accountable,” said Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission, in a statement.
“The only way to stop the recurring cycles of violence, including aggression and retribution by both sides, is to ensure strict adherence to international law.”
With regard to the Israeli military operations and attacks in Gaza, the Commission found that the Israeli authorities were responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or willful killing, directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity.
The Commission found that the crimes against humanity of extermination, gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys, murder, forcible transfer, and torture and inhuman or cruel treatment were also committed.
“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,” Pillay said.
“Hamas and Palestinian armed groups must immediately cease rocket attacks and release all hostages. The taking of hostages constitutes a war crime.”
The report covers Israeli military operations and attacks in the OPT, primarily the Gaza Strip, and focuses on the period from October 7 to December 31, 2023. However, the report also includes some incidents that took place after December.
According to the report, the immense number of civilian casualties in Gaza and the widespread destruction of civilian objects and infrastructure were the inevitable result of a strategy pursued with the intent to inflict maximum damage, disregarding the principles of distinction, proportionality and adequate precautions.
The deliberate use of heavy weapons of high destructive power in densely populated areas constitutes a deliberate and direct attack against the civilian population.
Between October 7 and June 10, Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 37,000 Palestinians and injured more than 84,400 others, many with life-changing injuries that will leave them permanently disabled, including more than 1,000 children who have lost one or more upper or lower limbs. Among the dead are thousands of children, 7,797 of whom have been identified by Gaza officials.
The report found that statements by Israeli officials - including those reflecting a policy of causing widespread destruction and killing large numbers of civilians - amounted to incitement and may constitute other serious international crimes.
Direct and public incitement to genocide is a crime under international law whenever committed, even by persons who do not have direct authority to conduct hostilities. Incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence is a serious violation of international human rights law and may constitute an international crime.
Although Israel issued hundreds of evacuation orders to people in northern Gaza and elsewhere, the Commission found that they were at times inadequate, unclear and contradictory, and did not allow sufficient time for safe evacuation. In addition, the evacuation routes and areas designated as safe have been subject to repeated attacks by Israeli forces. All of this, the Commission found, amounted to forcible transfer.
The Commission found that Israel has imposed a "total siege" that amounts to collective punishment against the civilian population. The Israeli authorities have weaponized the siege and used the provision of essential services, including the cutting off of water, food, electricity, fuel and humanitarian aid, for strategic and political purposes.
The siege has disproportionately affected pregnant women and persons with disabilities, and has caused severe harm to children, resulting in preventable child deaths from starvation, including newborns.
With regard to the October 7 attacks in Israel, the report found that the military wing of Hamas and six other Palestinian armed groups were responsible for the war crimes of intentionally directing attacks against civilians, murder or wilful killing, torture, inhuman or cruel treatment, destruction or appropriation of property of an enemy, outrages upon personal dignity, and taking hostages, including children.
The indiscriminate firing of thousands of projectiles into Israeli towns and cities, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries, is also a violation of international humanitarian and human rights law.
Among its recommendations, the report calls on the Israeli government to immediately implement a ceasefire, end the siege of Gaza, ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid, and cease the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.
The Commission calls on Israel to comply fully with its legal obligations under the International Court of Justice's provisional measures orders of 26 January, 28 March and 24 May, and in particular to allow the Commission access to Gaza to carry out its investigations.
In January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) began hearings in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in its war in Gaza. In a landmark ruling on January 26, the Court affirmed that Palestinians have a right to be protected from acts of genocide and ordered Israel to "take all measures within its power" to prevent acts amounting to genocide.
Among the interim measures, the Court also ordered Israel to allow the entry of urgently needed humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave and to allow the provision of critically needed basic services to the Palestinians there.
On March 28, the ICJ issued new provisional measures against Israel as the dire humanitarian situation in the bombed and besieged Gaza Strip continued to deteriorate, with famine looming. The legally binding order compels Israel to take "all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay" to send in "urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance", including food, water, shelter, fuel and medical supplies.
The Court also unanimously ordered Israel to increase “the capacity and number of land crossing points” and to maintain “them open for as long as necessary”.
On May 24, the Court ruled that Israel must immediately cease its military offensive in the Rafah Governorate and keep open the Rafah Crossing Point for the unimpeded delivery of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian aid on a large scale.
The Commission also recommends that all States Parties to the Rome Statute cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
On May 20, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan announced that he is seeking arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza. Arrest warrants have been requested for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders.
The Commission calls on the Palestinian government and de facto authorities in Gaza to immediately cease all rocket attacks on Israel, unconditionally release all hostages, thoroughly and impartially investigate violations and prosecute those responsible for crimes, including those committed on and since October 7 by members of Palestinian non-state armed groups in Israel.
The Commission's report, the first in-depth UN investigation into the events on and since October 7, 2023, is based on interviews with victims and witnesses conducted remotely and during a mission to Turkey and Egypt, thousands of open-source items verified through advanced forensic analysis, hundreds of submissions, satellite imagery and forensic medical reports.
Israel obstructed the Commission's investigations and denied it access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Commission sent six requests for information and access to the government. No response was received from Israel.
The report will be presented at the 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 19.
UN adds Israeli forces to blacklist for grave violations against children
In a further development with regard to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in the OPT, UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres has added the Israeli military and several Palestinian armed groups to the annual blacklist of perpetrators of grave violations against children. The list includes the worst state actors and non-state armed groups responsible for the grossest abuses against children.
Other actors on the list of shame include Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, Taliban forces, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad (Boko Haram), Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Mouvement du 23 mars (M23), Myanmar armed forces, Russian armed forces, and Syrian government forces, among many others.
The UN Secretary-General's annual report on children and armed conflict reveals the grim reality faced by these children, who have been recruited or used, killed or maimed, raped or subjected to sexual violence, or abducted. Their schools and hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, and children have been repeatedly denied access to humanitarian aid.
"I am appalled by the dramatic increase and unprecedented scale and intensity of grave violations against children in the Gaza Strip, Israel and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem," Guterres said in the report, which was sent to UN Security Council members on Tuesday and has been published on Thursday.
Guterres' Special Representative, Virginia Gamba, is mandated by the Security Council to work to prevent and end these violations. The annex to the report lists parties committing grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict on the Security Council's agenda.
In the 2023 report, the UN states that it has verified 8,009 grave violations against Israeli and Palestinian children, but the process is ongoing and slow due to the conflict. Of the 4,360 confirmed child casualties, 113 were Israeli children and 4,247 were Palestinian children.
According to the report, most of the child casualties in Gaza from October 7 to the end of last year were caused by "the use of explosive weapons in populated areas by Israeli armed and security forces".
In addition to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad was also listed. Both groups are listed for the first time and are accused of killing, maiming and abducting children. The report covers the period from January to December 2023, and only includes casualties reported or verified in 2023.
Due to severe access challenges, particularly in the Gaza Strip, the report does not represent the full extent of violations. There was a significant increase in the number of violations in 2023, with widespread violence by all parties to the conflict in the last quarter of the year. More than 23,000 grave violations against children were reported and remain to be verified.
Further information
Full text: Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel to the UN Human Rights Council (A/HRC/56/26), published June 12, 2024
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session56/a-hrc-56-26-auv.docx
Full text: Children and armed conflict, Report of the UN Secretary-General (S/2024/384), published June 13, 2024
https://www.undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=S%2F2024%2F384&Language=E