UN Commission Accuses Israel of Crimes in West Bank, Gaza

A United Nations-mandated commission has accused Israeli authorities and forces of crimes against humanity, including extermination, torture, rape and other sexual violence in the occupied West Bank, and said they continue to commit genocidal acts in Gaza. Israel rejected the commission’s findings. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel issued its report on October 26. It said its West Bank findings described a widespread and systematic attack against civilians, involving military operations reinforced by sustained settler violence. The commission said the authorities intended to punish West Bank Palestinians collectively after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel. The report also described persecution on discriminatory grounds, including nationality, race and ethnicity. It identified war crimes, including willful killing, in cases it investigated. The commission said it examined killings and bodily and mental harm caused by Israeli and Palestinian security forces since October 2023. In Gaza, the commission said cases it investigated showed Israeli authorities and forces continuing...