UN Report: "Both Israel and Hamas Committed War Crimes"

Scheduled for Submission to the UN Human Rights Council

The United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry (the Commission) has released a report stating that both the Israeli military and the Palestinian armed faction Hamas bear responsibility for 'war crimes.' The Commission plans to submit this report to the 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council, scheduled to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, on the 19th.

Residents evacuating from a bombed residential area. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 12th (local time), the Commission issued a detailed report investigating the war in the Gaza Strip, stating, "The Israeli authorities must be held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, and Hamas is also responsible for war crimes committed in Israel."

Since the outbreak of the Gaza Strip war on October 7 last year, the Commission has investigated human rights violations on the battlefield through interviews with victims and witnesses, as well as advanced forensic analysis techniques. The Commission explained, "It confirmed that the Israeli authorities committed various war crimes in Gaza, including starvation, deliberate killings, intentional attacks on civilians, forced displacement, sexual violence, torture, and arbitrary detention."

It added, "The enormous number of civilian casualties and widespread damage to facilities are the result of operations conducted by the Israeli military with the intent to cause maximum harm, disregarding principles," and "incendiary remarks by Israeli officials may also constitute another international crime."

The Commission also found that although the Israeli military issued evacuation orders to residents, the orders were unclear and did not provide sufficient time for safe evacuation. It stated, "The Israeli military’s siege attacks had a greater adverse impact on pregnant women and people with disabilities, resulting in children dying from starvation," and "it also found that the Israeli military carried out acts of sexual violence, including public stripping, as part of their operations."

Hamas’s killing of Israeli civilians and hostage-taking were also classified as illegal acts. The Commission stated, "Firing thousands of missiles toward Israeli villages causing civilian casualties violates international human rights law, and it is acknowledged that members of the armed group committed deliberate killings, injuries, torture, hostage-taking, and sexual violence against civilians and soldiers."

Furthermore, it concluded, "Hamas’s sexual violence was perpetrated against Israeli women in multiple locations in a similar manner," and "all intentional attacks, deliberate killings, torture, inhumane treatment, destruction of property, and hostage-taking against Israeli residents must be held accountable as war crimes."

Commission Chair Navi Pillay urged, "The only way to stop the cycle of repeated violence caused by attacks and reprisals from both Israel and Hamas is adherence to international law," and called on "Israel to cease military operations and Hamas to stop attacks and release hostages."