A United Nations Commission of Inquiry said Monday that Israel is continuing to commit "genocidal acts" in Gaza more than a year after a US-brokered ceasefire took hold, while also accusing Israeli authorities of crimes against humanity in the occupied West Bank.

The report, detailed by Al Jazeera, found that Israeli forces kept using heavy munitions, drones, quadcopters, artillery and sniper fire in densely populated parts of Gaza even after the ceasefire began, actions the commission said amounted to a continuation of genocidal conduct it first identified in a September 2025 finding.

The commission — formally the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which reports to the Human Rights Council but does not speak for the UN as a whole — covered the period from October 7, 2023 through September 30, 2026 in its latest findings.

West Bank Findings

The report describes a sharp deterioration in the West Bank, where it says Israeli authorities and forces committed crimes against humanity including "extermination, torture, rape" and persecution. Deaths from airstrikes in the territory rose from six between 2008 and October 6, 2023, to 254 in the period since, according to the commission's figures. The report concludes that Israeli military operations and settler violence amounted to a "widespread and systematic attack" on civilians, and that Palestinians there are targeted based on nationality, race, ethnicity, gender and age.

THE CONDITIONS DESCRIBED "IMPOSE CONDITIONS OF LIFE THAT ARE UNLIVABLE."

That assessment, attributed to the commission in Al Jazeera's reporting, echoes language from the panel's September 2025 report, which concluded Israel had committed four of the five genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Israel's Rejection

Israel's mission to the UN in Geneva dismissed the findings outright, calling the report part of the commission's "misinformation campaign to demonize the State of Israel" and urging the international community to "reject these distortions" and move toward the panel's "immediate dissolution." Israel has consistently rejected the commission's prior findings on similar grounds, questioning its methodology and sourcing.

The report lands a day before Israelis go to the polls in national elections, adding a politically charged backdrop to its release. A separate, long-running genocide case against Israel brought by South Africa remains pending before the International Court of Justice, with a ruling not expected before 2029.

The commission does not have enforcement power; its findings are intended to inform the Human Rights Council and member states, who would need to act independently on any recommendations.