UN-commissioned experts say Gaza ceasefire has not stopped Israel from committing genocide
Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in A ceasefire agreement in Gaza has not stopped what a group of independent experts commissioned by the U.N. say is genocide carried out by Israel in the territory, the team said in a new report Monday. They also accused Israeli forces of crimes against humanity, including torture and rape, in the West Bank . Israel, which denies both the genocide and the sexual assault claims, did not immediately respond to the report’s publication. The Associated Press could not independently corroborate multiple graphic accounts described in the report of sexual assaults by prison guards and soldiers on Palestinian detainees since October 2023. In one, female guards strip-searched a pregnant Palestinian, touching inside her anus and vagina. In another, guards beat and hurled sexist slurs while denying a detainee access to the toilet and sanitary pads. She bled onto her clothes and interrogation chair. The findings by the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which seeks to document in minute detail the allegations and evidence of crimes to bolster accountability for perpetrators, could be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court or in other jurisdictions to try to bring justice to victims and their relatives. The report Monday said Israel was “continuing to commit genocidal acts with the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in Gaza.” Much of the harm has come, the report says, from Israel’s expansion deeper into Gaza during that period. Since October 2025, when the ceasefire was signed, Israeli forces have gone from controlling 53% of Gaza to at least 60%, the commission said. In that time, Israeli fire across the advancing front has killed at least 196 Palestinians – including 18 women, 32 boys and 11 girls. The report also accused Israel and members of its security forces of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the West Bank and Gaza, including extermination, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence and persecution against civilians. The commission said that it had recently documented six cases where Israeli guards were sexually violent toward male detainees from Gaza in the Sde Teiman military prison. In one case, it says guards raped a Palestinian detainee with a stick, then forced him to put the stick in his mouth until he vomited. It also recalled an episode in which guards instructed a Palestinian man to urinate as they tied a plastic cord around his genitals. The commission says it drew its conclusions after investigating seven cases between November 2023 and June 2026, where Israeli forces caused bodily harm on Palestinians, often children, who did not appear to be posing a threat. The ceasefire scaled down a devastating war started by the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when the militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Israel responded with a campaign that has killed over 74,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
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