Israeli forces, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have both committed serious violations of international humanitarian law and committed atrocity crimes in Gaza, a UN report published on Thursday (February 19, 2026) said.
Intense Israeli attacks and forced transfers of Palestinians appear to be the goal of permanent demographic change in Gaza, “raising concerns of ethnic cleansing,” the UN Human Rights Office report said.
The Islamist militant group Hamas has called the hostage-taking and abuse tantamount to war crimes.
Israel’s permanent mission in Geneva dismissed the report’s findings about Israel’s actions and said in a statement that the UN human rights office had lost its credibility.
“The Office of the High Commissioner has engaged in a vicious campaign of demonization and disinformation against the State of Israel,” it said.
Hamas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Concerns of ethnic cleansing
The 17-page report investigates events in Gaza from November 2024 to October 31, 2025.
According to Israeli calculations, Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 72,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
A US-brokered ceasefire took effect last October, after two years of war that damaged buildings across Gaza, displaced most of its residents and sparked a humanitarian crisis. Israel still owns more than half of the enclave.
Israel’s actions “impose conditions that are incompatible with the living conditions under which Palestinians continue to live as a group in Gaza,” the report said.
Famine in parts of Gaza was observed last August by the Global Hunger Monitor, and the report said malnutrition was a direct result of Israel’s actions.
It said military distribution centers run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), supported by Israel and the United States, had “completely failed” to deliver the required level of humanitarian aid, in violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law.
Israeli practices in Gaza and the occupied West Bank indicate an accelerated effort to integrate large parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, illegally enforced by Israeli security forces, the report said.
“During the reporting period, intensified attacks, the systematic destruction of entire neighborhoods, and the denial of humanitarian aid appeared to be the goal of permanent demographic change in Gaza,” it said.
“It raises concerns about ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank, in addition to forced transfers that seem aimed at permanent displacement.”
Concerns about the actions of Hamas
The report found that the killing of 12 Palestinian personnel associated with the GHF last June by armed men amounted to war crimes committed by Hamas, including possible summary executions. Hamas declined to comment on the shooting.
The report raised concerns about the use of civilians as human shields to deter Israeli attacks, which Hamas denied, and described the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank as using unnecessary or disproportionate force.
The capture and abuse of hostages during the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel amounted to war crimes and other atrocity crimes, the report said. It cited allegations of torture, beating and deprivation of food.
“Hamas and its armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, and other Palestinian armed groups must also be held accountable for serious violations of international law, including international crimes,” it said.
