Israel and Hamas 'committed war crimes including torture and sexual violence'

12 June 2024 , 14:41

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Israel was found to have committed widespread attack directed at civilians

A UN probe into the Gaza war has found both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes and were involved in grave violations of international law. Damning reports suggest both sides committed torture, cruelty and hostage-taking following the Hamas October 7 attack which sparked the war.

In the first 2.5 months of war, a UN commission found Israel committed a widespread, systemic attack directed at a civilian population. Israel’s alleged war crimes include starvation, arbitrary detention, and killing and maiming “tens of thousands of children.”

Israel accused the inquiry of attempting to justify Hamas' actions

Both Israel and Hamas committed sexual violence and torture, and intentionally attacked civilians, according to the reports, which span more than 200 pages. Findings were based on interviews with victims and witnesses, thousands of open-source items verified through forensic analysis, hundreds of submissions, satellite imagery, forensic medical reports, and media coverage.

Israel previously refused to cooperate with the inquiry but it has accused it of “attempting to justify” Hamas’ actions and being anti-Israeli. Israel’s mission to the UN said Wednesday that the report did not mention continuous rocket fire on the country.

Palestinians have been forced to migrate to Deir Al-Balah city in central Gaza to avoid Israeli attacks

It said the UN was drawing a false equivalence between IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers and Hamas terrorists with regards to acts of sexual violence.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US continues “to do the work to make our own assessments” on whether there have been violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the war in Gaza.

He also said war in Gaza will go on after Hamas proposed "numerous" changes to an American-backed ceasefire plan - some that he said were "workable", and some not. In Qatar, he said the US and other mediators will keep trying to "close this deal". Mr Blinken's comments came as Lebanon's Hezbollah fired a massive barrage of rockets into northern Israel to avenge the killing of a top commander, further escalating regional tensions.

Fears have been raised that Hezbollah's involvement could lead the conflict to only grow further

Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed ally of Hamas, has traded fire with Israel nearly every day since the eight-month-long Israel-Hamas war began, and says it will only stop if there is a truce in Gaza. That has raised fears of an even more devastating regional conflagration.

Air raid sirens sounded across northern Israel, and the military said that about 160 projectiles were fired from southern Lebanon, making it one of the largest attacks since the fighting began. There were no immediate reports of casualties as some were intercepted while others ignited brush fires.

Chris Hughes