The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, created by the UN Human Rights Council, released a report on Monday saying that the ceasefire signed in October 2025 has not halted what it classifies as genocide in Gaza.
According to the text quoted by the Associated Press, Israel is "continuing to commit genocidal acts with the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in Gaza". Israel denies the report's conclusions and, as of publication, had not responded to the document.
The report's figures
The commission says that since the United States-brokered ceasefire was signed, Israeli forces have expanded their territorial control in Gaza from 53% to at least 60%.
Along the advancing front, the report counts 196 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire — among them 18 women, 32 boys and 11 girls.
The document also accuses Israel and its security forces of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and the West Bank, including extermination, torture, rape, other forms of sexual violence and the persecution of civilians.
On detainees, the commission says it documented six cases of sexual violence by Israeli guards against men from Gaza held at the Sde Teiman military facility. The Associated Press says it could not independently corroborate the most serious accounts described in the report. The commission also examined seven episodes between November 2023 and June 2026 in which Israeli forces injured Palestinians — frequently children — who, according to the document, posed no threat.
What the document can produce
A commission of inquiry does not try or punish anyone: it investigates and publishes. The practical weight of a report like this lies elsewhere — the findings can be used by International Criminal Court prosecutors or by courts in other jurisdictions that claim jurisdiction over the crimes described.
It is the second consecutive year the commission has reached a conclusion of genocide. In May this year, in a separate presentation at the Palace of Nations, the head of the UN human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territory, Ajith Sunghay, had already said that, despite the ceasefire, deaths and the destruction of infrastructure were continuing almost daily in Gaza, and that there had been "no meaningful accountability" for earlier violations.
The context
The conflict began with the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in 251 hostages being taken. Since then, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, the Israeli military campaign has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians.
With information from the Associated Press, The New Arab and the UN Human Rights Office.
