IDF, Hamas committed atrocity crimes in Gaza, UN report claims (original) (raw)
A UN report claims the IDF, Hamas, and other groups committed war crimes in Gaza, including ethnic cleansing and hostage mistreatment.
A dust-filled skyline of the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza City is seen through the interior of a damaged building on February 13, 2026; illustrative.
(photo credit: Hassan Salem/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
ByREUTERS
FEBRUARY 19, 2026 12:58
The IDF, Hamas, and other Palestinian terror groups have all committed serious violations of international humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip, carrying out atrocity crimes during the Israel-Hamas War, a UN report published on Thursday claimed.
The 17-page report investigated events in the Gaza Strip from November 2024 until October 31, 2025.
Intensified Israeli attacks and the alleged forcible transfer of Palestinians appeared to aim at a permanent demographic shift in the strip, "raising concerns over ethnic cleansing," the UN human rights office report accused.
Hamas's holding and mistreatment of hostages could also amount to war crimes, the report added.
"There must also be accountability for serious violations of international law, including possible international crimes, by Hamas and its armed wing, the [Izzadin] al-Qassam Brigades, as well as other Palestinian armed groups," the report said.
Hamas terrorists during a hostage release in Rafah, Gaza Strip, February 2025; illustrative. (credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images)
Israel's UN Geneva office dismisses report's findings
Israel's permanent mission in Geneva dismissed the report's findings, saying that the UN office had lost its credibility.
The "Office of the High Commissioner is engaged in a vicious campaign of demonization and disinformation against the State of Israel," it said.
Hamas did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Israel's actions had imposed "conditions of life increasingly incompatible with Palestinians' continued existence as a group in Gaza," the report said.