UN-Commissioned Experts Allege Israel Continues Gaza Genocide and West Bank Crimes Despite Ceasefire

POLICY WIRE — Jerusalem, Israel — A fresh report released Monday by independent experts commissioned by the United Nations asserts that the ongoing ceasefire agreement in Gaza has failed to halt what they characterize as genocide carried out by Israel within the territory.

Furthermore, the investigation team accused Israeli armed forces of perpetrating severe crimes against humanity, including acts of torture and rape, throughout the West Bank.

In a sharp counter-statement, Israel’s mission in Geneva demanded the immediate dissolution of the commission, publishing a post on X that labeled the findings as part of a persistent misinformation campaign intended to demonize the Israeli state and criminalize its fundamental existence.

The Israeli government has historically rejected the validity of the commission’s output, vehemently denying all allegations of genocide in Gaza and claims of sexual assault committed by its military personnel.

The Associated Press was unable to independently verify multiple graphic descriptions detailed in the document regarding sexual assaults allegedly perpetrated by prison guards and soldiers against Palestinian detainees since October 2023.

Among the documented accounts, the report describes an incident where female guards conducted a strip-search on a pregnant Palestinian woman while touching inside her vagina and anus.

Another documented case involves guards who allegedly beat a detainee, directed sexist slurs at her, and withheld access to toilet facilities and sanitary pads, resulting in blood staining her clothing and the interrogation chair.

The comprehensive documentation compiled by the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory aims to record granular evidence of alleged crimes to strengthen legal accountability for the perpetrators.

These findings could potentially be utilized by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court or other competent judicial jurisdictions to seek justice for victims and their grieving relatives.

Monday’s report explicitly stated that Israel persists in carrying out genocidal actions driven by the intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, either entirely or partially.

The authors of the report note that a significant portion of this ongoing harm stems from the territorial expansion of Israeli forces deeper into the Gaza Strip during the active ceasefire period.

Since October 2025, when the ceasefire was initially signed, the commission reports that Israeli forces have expanded their control from 53% of Gaza to at least 60%.

During that timeframe, cross-front fire originating from advancing Israeli positions has resulted in the deaths of at least 196 Palestinians, including 18 women, 32 boys, and 11 girls.

The investigative findings additionally charge Israeli soldiers and detention facility guards with war crimes and crimes against humanity within the West Bank, citing specific acts of extermination, torture, rape, sexual violence, and civilian persecution.

The commission highlighted that it recently documented six separate instances wherein Israeli guards subjected male detainees from Gaza to sexual violence inside the Sde Teiman military prison.

According to one specific testimony cited in the report, guards sodomized a Palestinian detainee with a stick before compelling him to place the same object into his mouth until he vomited.

The document also recounted an episode where guards ordered a Palestinian man to urinate while tightening a plastic cord securely around his genitals.

The implementation of the ceasefire had previously scaled down a devastating military conflict sparked by the Hamas-led incursions into Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and the abduction of 251 hostages.

In response to those attacks, subsequent military campaigns launched by Israel have accounted for the deaths of over 74,000 Palestinians, according figures provided by Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)