A group of independent UN-commissioned experts says Israel continues to commit genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip despite the "ceasefire" reached last year, while further war crimes and crimes against humanity have been documented in the occupied West Bank.
In a new report released on Monday, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said that in Gaza the Israeli authorities and forces “continue to commit genocidal acts even after the so-called ceasefire agreement, with the intent to destroy the Palestinian people, in whole or in part.”
Commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said, "Israel’s expansion of territorial control in Gaza continues to result in the killing and harming of Palestinian civilians who approach or cross the Yellow Line."
The line marks the area to which Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw under the first phase of the Gaza "ceasefire," which took effect last October.
In violation of the so-called ceasefire, Israeli forces have expanded occupation of Gaza from 53 percent to at least 60 percent.
The commission also highlighted six cases where Israeli guards were sexually violent toward male detainees from Gaza in the Sde Teiman military prison.
The report said Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity of extermination, persecution, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence in the occupied West Bank.
It confirmed that the situation in the West Bank has deteriorated gravely since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, noting that Palestinians in the West Bank are being targeted “on the basis of their nationality, race and ethnicity, gender and age.”
The UN report documented sexual assaults by Israeli prison guards and soldiers against Palestinian detainees from the West Bank since October 2023. In one case, it said, female guards strip-searched a pregnant Palestinian woman.
According to the inquiry, guards beat another detainee, subjected her to sexist slurs and denied her access to a toilet and sanitary pads.
The Commission said it was documenting evidence of crimes in meticulous detail to strengthen efforts to hold perpetrators accountable.
Its findings could be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) or in other jurisdictions in efforts to secure justice for victims and their families.
The commission urged the international community to pressure Israel to comply with the advisory opinion of July 2024 of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and immediately end the unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory and remove all settlers and settlements.
“Essentially, Israel should end and reverse confiscation and appropriation of Palestinian property and reservation of Palestinian land for military purposes and return all confiscated land to its Palestinian owners,” the UN report stated.
Since Israel launched its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the West Bank has faced a sustained escalation in Israeli military raids and settler attacks, alongside the expansion of unlawful settlement outposts, the construction of roads reserved for settlers, and increasingly severe restrictions on Palestinian movement.
Western countries have faced criticism for failing to take meaningful action to halt Israel’s genocide in Gaza and curb settler violence in the West Bank.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, Israel’s genocidal war has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and wounded over 174,000 in the besieged strip since October 2023.
Over the same period, Israeli forces and settlers have killed more than 1,210 Palestinians, injuring around 13,350 others in the occupied West Bank.
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