UN Report: 74,000 Gaza Deaths Amid Post-Truce 'Genocidal Acts'
Israel calls the findings a misinformation campaign as the panel details continued heavy weapon use and expanding territorial control.
By Jonathan Ramirez ·
Palestinians in Gaza face a formal determination that Israel has continued to commit genocide since last October’s U.S.-brokered ceasefire, according to a report released Monday by a United Nations commission. The document, issued by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, examines violations against children from the start of the war on October 7, 2023, through September of this year. It states that Israeli authorities maintained genocidal intent to destroy Palestinians in the enclave, in whole or in part.
The commission documented the continued use of heavy munitions, drones, quadcopters, artillery, and sniper fire in densely populated areas during the ceasefire period. It found that the Yellow Line, originally presented as a temporary demarcation, has encroached deeper into Gaza, effectively becoming a de facto border that reflects expanding Israeli territorial control.
Israeli authorities rejected the findings. The Israeli mission in Geneva described the report as part of a misinformation campaign designed to demonize Israel. Ambassador Daniel Meron said in a statement, "The attempt to destroy the Jewish state .. continues today through efforts by actors such as the UN Commission of Inquiry to undermine Israel’s legitimacy and deny its fundamental right to exist and defend itself."
The panel also accused Israeli soldiers and prison guards of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the West Bank. These charges include extermination, torture, rape, and persecution of civilians. The commission cited six specific recent cases involving sexual violence toward male detainees from Gaza at the Sde Teiman military prison.
Palestinian authorities report that more than 74,000 people have been killed in the Israeli assault on Gaza. This conflict began after Hamas-led fighters killed approximately 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. A previous UN report in September 2025 had already found that Israel committed genocide and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu incited those acts.
The situation in the West Bank has deteriorated sharply, according to the report to the UN Security Council. Palestinians killed in airstrikes rose from six between 2008 and October 6, 2023, to 254 between October 7, 2023, and September 30, 2026. Military operations since January 2025 have caused the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967, with 34,176 residents remaining displaced as of August 2026.
Commission Chair Srinivasan Muralidhar stated that the intentional killing of civilians and destruction of homes in the West Bank forms part of a strategy to exterminate and displace Palestinians. The panel also criticized the Palestinian Authority for targeting dissenting voices and noted that journalists and human rights defenders have been killed and injured.
