NEW DELHI: Israel has committed crimes against humanity, including "extermination," during the war in Gaza, reveals a UN investigation that concluded on Wednesday.

The investigation also stated that both Israeli and Palestinian armed groups have committed war crimes.

The report from the independent Commission of Inquiry marks the United Nations' inaugural comprehensive investigation into the events of the conflict that commenced on October 7.

It found that Israel had committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL).
The report said "an extensive or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza."
"The commission found that the crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed," the report added.

However Israel rejected the conclusions by accusing the UN commission of "systematic anti-Israeli discrimination".

It may be noted here, that the Gaza war broke out after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
The commission further found that in that attack, members of the military wings of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups and Palestinian civilians committed war crimes, as well as violations and abuses of IHL and IHRL.
The militants seized 251 hostages, of which 116 remain in Gaza, though the Israeli army says 41 of them are dead.

The Israeli army launched a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip that has left more than 37,000 people dead, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry.

The unparalleled Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged violations of IHL and IHRL in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Since October 7, the three-member commission has kept a watch on the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.

"It is very important that all those who have committed crimes be held accountable," said the commission's chair Navi Pillay, a former UN rights chief and an ex-International Criminal Court judge.
Israel must immediately stop its military operations and attacks in Gaza, he said and added, "Hamas and Palestinian armed groups must immediately cease rocket attacks and release all hostages. 

Members of Hamas, other Palestinian armed groups and civilians participating in the October 7 attack on purpose killed, injured, mistreated, took hostages and committed sexual and gender-based violence, the commission concluded.

The commission further said it found "major evidence on the desecration of corpses, including sexualised desecration, decapitations, lacerations, burning, severing of body parts and undressing".

"Women experienced gender-based violence during their abduction or execution, with their bodies often used as trophies by male perpetrators to symbolize victory," it said.

Many children who witnessed their family being attacked and killed were "also filmed for propaganda purposes", with the commission finding it "particularly egregious that children were targeted for abduction".
The report said Israeli authorities "failed to protect civilians in southern Israel on almost every front".