A new report by the United Nations’ human rights office finds that Israel is guilty of an array of war crimes and crimes against humanity – and of “continuing genocide” – across occupied Palestine.

These crimes, according to the report submitted to the UN’s General Assembly yesterday, include:

extermination, persecution, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, intentionally targeting Palestinian civilians as it continues to commit genocide in Gaza.

The report also notes Israel’s massive escalation of these crimes in the occupied West Bank – where Hamas does not operate – since Israel killed hundreds of its own people during the 7 October 2023 raid by Gaza resistance groups:

the situation in the West Bank has deteriorated gravely since 7 October 2023. The number of deaths caused by airstrikes in the West Bank has increased significantly: six Palestinians were killed by airstrikes in the West Bank between 2008 and 6 October 2023, while 254 Palestinians were killed by airstrikes between 7 October 2023 and 30 September 2026.

The Commission concluded that Palestinians in the West Bank are being targeted on the basis of their nationality, race and ethnicity, gender and age.

In Gaza, the report finds that Israel’s genocide in Gaza has not even paused, despite the so-called ‘ceasefire’:

Israeli authorities and forces continue to commit genocidal acts even after the so-called ceasefire agreement, with the intent to destroy the Palestinian people, in whole or in part.

And, as usual for a colony that refuses to extradite more than 2,000 wanted or convicted paedophiles, children are particularly targeted children:

Torture, reproductive violence, rape and other forms of sexual violence form part of the broader attack directed against the civilian population in the West Bank. Sexual violence has been used with the intent to displace, subjugate and destabilize the Palestinian people.

Israeli forces have also deliberately killed and inflicted serious bodily and mental harm against children in the West Bank – as they have in Gaza – committing age-based persecution against Palestinian children.

Collaborator ‘authority’

The UN also finds that, rather than represent Palestinians, the so-called ‘Palestinian Authority’ – the puppet that runs the West Bank – colludes with Israel against them:

The Palestinian Authority…has targeted Palestinians who voice dissenting views. Journalists and human rights defenders have been killed and injured, resulting in an increasingly diminished civic space.

Despite an increase in unnecessary or disproportionate use of force since 7 October 2023, the Palestinian Authority has failed to conduct effective and impartial investigations into incidents of killings and to ensure effective remedy, including financial compensation to victims and their family members.

And the theft of what remains of Palestinian land is at the heart of Israel’s sadistic colonial brutality and its propaganda inversion of reality:

Seizing maximum land while minimizing the Palestinian population in relation to size, autonomy and viability stems from Israel’s colonising policies and is rooted in historical practices and patterns of action, resulting in the excessive and discriminatory application of lethal force, displacing, injuring and killing Palestinians over generations.

Attempting to equate Palestinian statehood with a threat to the existence of Israel is blocking any viable attempts to realize Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

Despite repeated UN reports exposing Israel’s crimes, the US – with the collusion of the UK – continues to veto firm action by the UN Security Council.