The findings were from two parallel reports by “independent experts,” one focusing on the Oct. 7 Hamas assault and another on Israel’s military response, published by the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI), which has an unusually broad and open-ended mandate to collect evidence and identify perpetrators of alleged international crimes committed in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Regarding Israel’s actions, the report noted “a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza.”
“The commission found that the crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed,” it added.
Sexual violence
The reports also said that both Israeli forces and Palestinian terrorists engaged in sexual and gender-based violence during the first months of the Israel-Hamas war.
The alleged sexual violence carried out by Israeli forces apparently referred to incidents where dozens of terror suspects detained in Gaza were publicly stripped. Israel said the acts were necessary to search the suspects for weapons and suicide vests, but acknowledged that the pictures should not have been published.
The report said Palestinian men and boys were forced to strip naked in public in moves “intended to inflict severe humiliation.” READ MORE
