GENEVA

Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza, committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities, a UN Commission said on Thursday.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel also investigated the treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israel and of Israeli and foreign hostages in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.

It concluded that “Israel and Palestinian armed groups are responsible for torture and sexual and gender-based violence.”

“Israel must immediately stop its unprecedented wanton destruction of healthcare facilities in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, chair of the commission.

“By targeting healthcare facilities, Israel is targeting the right to health itself with significant long-term detrimental effects on the civilian population. Children, in particular, have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system.”

The report found that Israeli security forces have deliberately killed, detained and tortured medical personnel and targeted medical vehicles while tightening their siege on Gaza and restricting permits to leave the territory for medical treatment.

“These actions constitute the war crimes of willful killing and mistreatment and of the destruction of protected civilian property and the crime against humanity of extermination,” said the commission.

Attacks on medical facilities in Gaza, particularly those devoted to pediatric and neonatal care, have led to incalculable suffering of child patients, including newborns, the commission said.

It went on to state that by continuing such attacks, Israel violated children's rights to life, denied them access to basic health care, and intentionally inflicted living conditions on generations of Palestinian children and, potentially, the Palestinian people as a whole.

“In one of the most egregious cases, the Commission investigated the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab, along with her extended family, and the shelling of a Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance and killing of two paramedics sent to rescue her.

“The Commission determined on reasonable grounds that the Israeli Army’s 162nd Division operated in the area and is responsible for killing the family of seven, shelling the ambulance, and killing the two paramedics inside. This constitutes the war crimes of wilful killing and an attack against civilian objects,” said the report.

According to the report, the deliberate destruction of health infrastructure that provides reproductive health care, combined with a lack of access and availability to health care, violates women’s and girls’ reproductive rights and their right to life, health, human dignity, and non-discrimination, as well as the crime against humanity of other inhumane acts.

The report found that many Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza by Palestinian armed groups were mistreated, causing physical pain and severe mental suffering, including physical violence, abuse, sexual violence, forced isolation, limited access to hygiene facilities, water and food, threats, and humiliation.

Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups forced hostages to appear in videos to inflict psychological torture on their families to achieve political goals, it added.

Several hostages died in captivity. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes such as torture, and inhuman treatment, as well as crimes against humanity such as enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts resulting in great suffering or serious injury.

“Palestinian armed groups must release immediately and unconditionally all Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza. Hostages must be treated in accordance with the requirements of international humanitarian law and international human rights law until they are released,” said Pillay, chair of the commission.