UN commission says genocide continued in Gaza after ceasefire; Israel rejects report

A UN commission of inquiry said on October 26, 2026, that Israel had continued committing genocide in Gaza after a US-brokered ceasefire, citing attacks in densely populated areas and conduct it said was intended to destroy Palestinians there. Israel rejected the report, according to news accounts.¹³⁴

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Findings during the ceasefire

The commission said that, during the truce, Israeli forces kept attacking crowded areas of Gaza with large-calibre weapons, unmanned aircraft including quadcopters, shelling and gunfire from snipers. Its findings attributed to Israeli authorities both continuing genocidal acts and an intention to destroy the territory’s Palestinian population, either entirely or partly.¹²⁴

The report examined violations against Palestinian children during the war, covering events through September. In a previous report, the commission found that Israel had perpetrated genocide in Gaza and accused high-ranking figures in its government–among them Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu–of encouraging the acts.¹²

The inquiry also described changes to territorial control during the ceasefire. It said the Yellow Line, presented as a temporary demarcation, was extending farther into Gaza and increasingly functioning as a border. Associated Press reported that the commission put Israeli control at at least 60% of Gaza, compared with 53% previously.¹²³

Israel’s response

News reports described Israel’s response as a rejection of the findings and an accusation that the inquiry was spreading misinformation to demonise the country. Reuters quoted Israeli ambassador Daniel Meron describing a “misinformation campaign” and accusing the commission of trying to undermine Israel’s legitimacy and its right to defend itself.¹²³⁴

Israel’s mission in Geneva also demanded the commission’s dissolution, according to Associated Press. The Israeli response disputed the inquiry’s conclusions; the allegations of genocide and intent set out in the report remain the commission’s findings.¹³⁴

West Bank findings

Beyond Gaza, the commission said conditions in the occupied West Bank were worsening. It reported an increase in deaths from airstrikes from six to 254, and said military operations beginning in January 2025 had produced the largest displacement of Palestinians there since 1967. The report recorded 34,176 Palestinians still displaced in August 2026.¹²

Commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said deliberate killings of Palestinian civilians and the destruction of homes were elements of a wider strategy to exterminate and displace Palestinians. The commission also criticised the Palestinian Authority for targeting dissenting Palestinians, and reported deaths and injuries among journalists and human rights defenders.¹²

Palestinian authorities put the number killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza at more than 74,000. The assault came after the October 7, 2023, attack, when combatants under Hamas’s leadership took the lives of approximately 1,200 people in Israel’s south.¹²