Israel and Hamas committed war crimes, UN inquiry finds

Israeli actions were also crimes against humanity given the high civilian losses

A United Nations inquiry found on June 12 that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes early in the Gaza war, and that Israel’s actions also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses.

The findings were from two parallel reports by the UN Commission of Inquiry, one focusing on the Oct 7 attacks and another on Israel’s response.

Israel, which did not cooperate with the commission, dismissed the findings as the result of anti-Israeli bias.

Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The war began on Oct 7 when militants led by Hamas, the Islamist group ruling Gaza, killed about 1,160 Israelis and took more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s military retaliation has caused the deaths of more than 37,000 people – most of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry – displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population, caused widespread hunger and devastated housing and infrastructure.

Negotiators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar have tried for months to mediate a ceasefire and free the hostages, more than 100 of whom are believed to remain captive in Gaza.

Mr Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, said its formal response to a US ceasefire proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden on May 31 was “responsible, serious and positive” and “opens up a wide pathway” for an accord.

But an Israeli official said on June 11, on condition of anonymity, that Israel had received the answer via the mediators and that Hamas “changed all of the main and most meaningful parameters” and “rejected the proposal for a hostage release”.