A ceasefire agreement in Gaza has failed to halt what a group of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations describes as genocide carried out by Israel. The findings were published in a report on Monday.
The team of investigators also accused Israeli forces of crimes against humanity in the West Bank, citing allegations of torture and rape. Israel denies both the genocide and the sexual assault claims.
The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory seeks to document allegations and evidence of crimes to support accountability. Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court or other jurisdictions could use these findings to seek justice for victims and their families.
The report stated that Israel was continuing to commit genocidal acts with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinian population in Gaza. Much of the ongoing harm stems from the expansion of Israeli forces deeper into the territory during the ceasefire period.
Since October 2025, when the ceasefire was signed, Israeli forces expanded their control in Gaza from 53 percent to at least 60 percent. Israeli fire across the advancing frontlines has killed at least 196 Palestinians, including 18 women, 32 boys and 11 girls, during this timeframe.
Investigators also documented war crimes and crimes against humanity in the West Bank, listing extermination, torture, rape, sexual violence and persecution against civilians by soldiers and prison guards.
The commission documented six recent cases of sexual violence by guards against male detainees from Gaza held at the Sde Teiman military prison. In one instance, guards raped a Palestinian detainee with a stick and forced him to put the stick in his mouth until he vomited. In another episode, guards tied a plastic cord around a Palestinian man’s genitals and instructed him to urinate.
The report described graphic accounts of sexual assaults by prison guards and soldiers against Palestinian detainees since October 2023. These included an incident where female guards strip-searched a pregnant Palestinian while touching inside her anus and vagina. Another account detailed guards beating a detainee, hurling sexist slurs and denying access to a toilet and sanitary pads, causing her to bleed onto her clothes and the interrogation chair.
The ceasefire agreement had scaled down the war that began with the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Those initial attacks killed 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages being taken. Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed over 74,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
