The UN inquiry claims attacks have persisted and that the temporary ceasefire line is becoming a “de facto border”. Israel calls the report biased and says its claims are false.
A UN commission has claimed that Israel has continued to commit genocide in Gaza despite the US-brokered ceasefire that began in October 2025. In a report published on Monday, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said “sustained air, artillery, drone and gunfire attacks” have continued. It also alleges that Israel is taking control of more territory. Israel says the claims are false and that the report is another attempt to attack its legitimacy. The commission does not represent the official position of the UN’s collective members.
What the commission alleges
The report says “heavy and unguided munitions” are being used in built-up areas. It claims that 1,431 people have been killed since the ceasefire began, among them at least 300 children and 130 women. It says Israel is aiming to “destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in Gaza”.
The commission also alleges that Israel is expanding its hold on Gaza by fortifying the temporary ceasefire line with at least nine new military bases, turning it into a “steadily encroaching de facto border”. It says Israeli-controlled areas have grown from the 53% first envisaged under the ceasefire to at least 60% today. It adds: “Israeli authorities’ failure to clearly communicate the boundaries of the Yellow Line to Palestinians in Gaza has resulted in civilian casualties when civilians unintentionally approached or crossed the line.”
According to the Associated Press, as set out in the research notes, at least 196 Palestinians, including 18 women and 43 children, were killed by Israeli fire near the advancing line. UN humanitarian reporting put that figure at the period from October 2025 to early April 2026, so it is not a total to October 2026. Earlier UN reporting estimated that by late June the area behind what it calls the Orange Line covered about 64.9% of Gaza, though the estimates use different dates and definitions.
A UN humanitarian update dated 15 October reported 1,493 deaths and 5,299 injuries recorded by Gaza’s Health Ministry since the ceasefire. That differs from the commission’s 1,431, which may reflect an earlier cutoff or a different dataset. Please check the original report.
More than 74,000 people died during the Gaza war, according to the Hamas-run health authority, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The conflict began after about 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 taken hostage in the Hamas attack in October 2023.
The West Bank
The commission also accuses Israeli soldiers and prison guards of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the West Bank, including extermination, torture, rape and other sexual violence, and persecution. It highlights the “intentional killing and injuring of Palestinian civilians and destruction of homes”. It says the situation has “deteriorated gravely” since 7 October 2023, claims Israel is using the “Gaza strategy of total destruction”, and says civilians are being deliberately targeted because of race, ethnicity, gender and age.
According to Reuters, the commission counted 254 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in the West Bank between 7 October 2023 and 30 September 2026, against six between 2008 and 6 October 2023. The periods differ in length, and the figures cover airstrike deaths only. The commission reported that 34,176 Palestinians remained displaced as of August 2026 after operations that intensified in January 2025, which it called the largest displacement in the West Bank since 1967.
The Associated Press reported that the commission documented six alleged cases of sexual violence against male detainees at Israel’s Sde Teiman facility, and described alleged abuse of female detainees. The agency said it could not independently verify several of the graphic testimonies, and Israel denies the allegations. The commission also examined seven incidents between November 2023 and June 2026 involving serious bodily harm allegedly inflicted by Israeli forces, a sample and not the total number.
The commission also criticised the Palestinian Authority, accusing it of targeting Palestinians who expressed dissenting political views, and of failing to protect or provide accountability for journalists and human rights defenders who were killed or injured. It called for Israel to end its occupation, citing the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 advisory opinion, and for the return of confiscated land and removal of settlements. That opinion is not a final judgment in the separate genocide case.
Israel’s response
Israel dismissed the report as biased and part of a “misinformation campaign” to demonise the country and “destroy the Jewish state”. It has previously denied claims of genocide, insisted it only launches attacks in response to Hamas breaches of the ceasefire, and says it does all it can to avoid civilian casualties. It has pledged to destroy Hamas to prevent a repeat of the October 2023 attack.
According to The Times of Israel, its mission in Geneva called for the commission to be dissolved. Ambassador Daniel Meron accused the investigators of undermining Israel’s legitimacy and right to defend itself. The report came out the day before Israel’s election on 27 October, though that timing does not by itself explain why it was published.
