Israeli forces have perpetrated atrocity crimes in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have also perpetrated atrocity crimes.

BACKGROUND:

For more than two years Israel has launched relentless bombardments from air, land and sea, as well as repeatedly imposed complete sieges on Gaza. Israel’s initial bombardment and siege followed a deadly assault by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups into Israel on 7 October 2023. Since then, Israel has killed over 70,000 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children, and injured over 167,000. Thousands more are estimated to be missing or buried under rubble of destroyed buildings. Nearly 80 percent of infrastructure across the Gaza Strip has been damaged or destroyed.

On 10 October 2025 the first phase of a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel – based on a so-called 20-point peace plan announced by United States (US) President Donald Trump – came into effect in Gaza. The agreement called for the suspension of all hostilities; the release of all remaining hostages (living and deceased) in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees; the daily entry of some 600 trucks of humanitarian aid; and the withdrawal of Israeli troops to a demarcated line, leaving approximately 58 percent of Gaza under Israeli control.

Numerous independent UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967 and the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, have determined that Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including East Jerusalem, and Israel determined that Israel has committed at least four of the five acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, including imposing measures to prevent births. In response to the case brought by South Africa against Israel for allegations of genocide, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued three sets of provisional measures since January 2024 that demand Israeli authorities prevent genocide and allow necessary aid to enter Gaza. Israel has consistently defied these orders and its obligations as an occupying power under International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

On 21 November 2024 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for two Israeli government officials – including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – and a Hamas official for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has reported a significant increase in extrajudicial executions, mass detentions and enforced disappearances of Palestinians in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank since October 2023. According to the CoI, Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinian detainees is an “intentional policy,” involving acts that amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity. Detainees have been deliberately humiliated – including through physical, psychological, sexual and reproductive violence – used as human shields and frequently denied adequate food and medical care.

During their assault on 7 October 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups attacked civilian areas in Israel and perpetrated flagrant violations of international law, including capturing and forcibly taking hundreds of civilians as hostages. At least 1,200 Israelis were killed and over 5,400 injured. The CoI found that members of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes, including deliberately killing, injuring and mistreating civilians and taking hostages. The CoI identified patterns indicative of sexual violence, including sexual desecration of corpses and using women and women’s bodies as “victory trophies.”

Palestinian territory – encompassing the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem – has been occupied by Israel since 1967. The UN Special Rapporteur has determined that Israel has imposed a system of racial oppression and discrimination that satisfies the prevailing evidentiary standard for apartheid, a crime against humanity. A July 2024 ICJ advisory opinion details that Israel’s continued presence in the OPT is unlawful, asserts Israel must end its presence as rapidly as possible, immediately cease new settlement activities and evacuate all settlers.

Since October 2023 existing patterns of violence in the Occupied West Bank have escalated, including settler attacks, resulting in hundreds of Palestinian fatalities and injuries. OHCHR reported that settlers sometimes act with the acquiescence and collaboration of Israeli forces and authorities. There has also been a sharp increase in disproportionate force by Israeli forces, including airstrikes, violent military tactics during search-and-arrest operations and incursions by armored personnel carriers and bulldozers sent to refugee camps. In January 2025 Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the northern Occupied West Bank, including the deployment of tanks for the first time in over two decades. The ongoing assault has forcibly displaced over 40,000 Palestinians, marking the largest wave of forced displacement in the Occupied West Bank since 1967.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:

Despite the ceasefire, Israel has continued to conduct attacks on Gaza and obstruct humanitarian aid delivery, killing over 600 Palestinians and allowing only a fraction of the agreed upon aid trucks into Gaza. Israel briefly reimposed a total siege on Gaza on 28 February hours after launching a joint military attack with the US against Iran. Although one border crossing was partially reopened three days later, at the time of publication all other crossings – including Rafah – remain closed. Medical evacuations have been suspended, while the rotation of humanitarian staff has been subject to heavy restrictions and suspensions. Most checkpoints in the Occupied West Bank have also been closed following recent regional escalations.

In early February Israel’s security cabinet approved a series of measures that expand Israeli authority in areas under Palestinian administrative control in the Occupied West Bank and ease restrictions on land acquisition. Since the start of 2026 over 900 Palestinians have been displaced and Israeli forces have largely demolished the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) compound in Occupied East Jerusalem. OHCHR has concluded that Israel’s policies of discrimination and racial segregation in the Occupied West Bank resemble apartheid and has raised concerns of ethnic cleansing across the OPT.

Following the adoption of UNSC Resolution 2803 in November, which enacted President Trump’s plan for Gaza, including the establishment of a transitional governance body and the deployment of an International Stabilization Force (ISF), US officials launched the ceasefire’s second phase in January. A Palestinian technocratic committee and Executive Board have been appointed to oversee elements of the plan under a so-called Board of Peace (BoP), which grants President Trump sweeping authority and purports to operate under a global mandate. Several of the two dozen BoP members have pledged troop contributions for the ISF and funding for the reconstruction of Gaza.

ANALYSIS:

For over two years Israel has subjected Palestinians in Gaza to genocide. Israeli authorities’ rhetoric, coupled with the conduct of Israeli forces, reflects an intent to destroy a substantial part of the Palestinian population. Israel’s military assault on the Occupied West Bank has heightened the risk of further atrocities.

The mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank likely amounts to the war crime and crime against humanity of forcible transfer. Israel’s sieges on Gaza following October 2023 amount to intentional starvation of civilians as a method of warfare – a war crime – and may amount to a crime against humanity and act of genocide.

Hamas’ indiscriminate rocket attacks violate international law. Hamas’ security forces have also committed grave abuses against Palestinians in Gaza, including arbitrary arrests, summary executions and torture.

While the ceasefire agreement provides urgently needed relief to Palestinians in Gaza, atrocities will persist until there is a permanent ceasefire, the root causes of violence are addressed and a sustainable political solution is achieved. The fragility of the agreement is compounded by ongoing punitive measures by Israel and risks collapse amid broader regional escalation.

The BoP and the broader US plan for Gaza raise serious legal and political concerns, including departures from the mandate authorized by UNSC Resolution 2803, compliance with international law and the lack of Palestinian representation. The planned ISF’s sweeping powers, without safeguards or an exit strategy, risks sidelining accountability and undermining Palestinian self-determination.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying power is prohibited from transferring parts of its civilian population into occupied territory, also known as “settler implantation.” Seizures and demolitions of Palestinian and Bedouin land and property result in forced evictions, arbitrary displacement and forcible transfer. Israel’s permanent occupation endangers the cultural existence of the Palestinian people and violates their right to self-determination. The measures recently approved by Israel’s security cabinet further entrench its unlawful control over the Occupied West Bank and signal intensifying efforts to accelerate annexation of Palestinian territory.

RISK ASSESSMENT:

• • • Pattern of ceasefire violations, risking a return to large-scale bombardments, ground offensives and siege tactics.
    • Enabling conditions for the crimes of forced displacement and forcible transfer.
    • Escalating violence, attacks and arbitrary arrests in the Occupied West Bank.
    • Institutionalized systematic racial oppression and discrimination against Palestinians and the de facto and illegal annexation of Palestinian land.
    • No effective accountability for cycles of deadly hostilities between Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.

NECESSARY ACTION:

Hamas and Israel must respect the terms of the ceasefire agreement. A permanent ceasefire in Gaza must be established and equally applied in the Occupied West Bank.

All states, including those with influence, must apply diplomatic and economic pressure on Israel to lift the aid blockade on Gaza, urge both parties to uphold the ceasefire agreement and ensure independent monitors oversee its implementation. Israel must immediately halt its military assault on the Occupied West Bank, repeal measures aimed at annexation of Palestinian land and implement the ICJ’s provisional measures.

Any international stabilization force must respect Palestinian consent and include robust safeguards, accountability measures and a clear exit plan. States must implement Resolution 2803 in accordance with international law and refuse to join the BoP while it undermines Palestinian statehood and the UN Charter. The international community must also support a Palestinian-led recovery and reconstruction of Gaza, ensuring that Israel neither obstructs nor benefits from it.

States should join the Hague Group to reaffirm their collective role in supporting accountability and a political solution grounded in international law. All states must defend the mandate of the UNRWA and adequately fund its vital operations.

Israel must cease illegal settlement-related activity, apartheid policies, the occupation of Palestinian territory and collective punishment of Palestinians. All parties should unequivocally condemn anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate speech. Leaders must refrain from spreading and engaging in dehumanizing rhetoric and actions.

States parties to the Genocide Convention should support the ICJ proceedings and refrain from attempts to impede the Court’s independent work or discredit its findings. The ICC must be allowed to conduct its mandate independently and impartially and all states should cease any impediments, intimidation, retaliation or improper influences against the Court and its officials. Israel should ratify the Rome Statute and cooperate with all UN-mandated investigative mechanisms.

For more on the Global Centre’s advocacy work on the situation in the IOPT, see our IOPT country advocacy page.