The evidence of atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank

Depriving the Population of the Means of Survival

·      Israeli officials have proposed a plan to dismantle the existing humanitarian system in Gaza and replace it with a militarised apparatus. This plan only entrenches Israel’s unlawful occupation and is yet another use of collective punishment.

·      An entire population is being starved in plain sight. No aid entered Gaza for 65 days from 2 nd March 2025 under Israeli authorities’ total siege. According to the IPC, the entire Gaza strip is at risk of famine, with an estimate 1 in 5 people facing starvation unless immediate action is taken. Israel’s total blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza is a cruel act of collective punishment and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.

·      After two months of a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has resumed its brutal military assault, unleashing more suffering on Palestinians. Hospitals are at breaking point, medical supplies are running dangerously low, and families are once again being forced from their homes with nowhere safe to turn. The world cannot stay silent as Palestinians endure these atrocities yet again.

·      For 19 months, Israeli forces have systematically deprived Palestinians in Gaza of essential resources, including food, water, medicine, and fuel. The prolonged siege and destruction of infrastructure have exacerbated the crisis, with humanitarian access severely restricted.

·      A UN Special Committee has concluded that ‘Israel has used starvation as a method of war in Gaza’ and independent UN experts have also concluded that Israel has conducted an ‘intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people’.

·      The healthcare system has also been systematically dismantled. Hospitals have been destroyed, medical workers detained, and vital supplies blocked. The UN independent Commission of Inquiry has found that 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”.

·      While aid flow temporarily improved during the recent pause in hostilities, Israel once again halted all aid from entering Gaza on 2nd March 2025 and then cut all electricity supplies, affecting access to clean water.

·      The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the oPt concluded that “Israeli authorities have destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of the Palestinians in Gaza as a group, including by imposing measures intended to prevent births, one of the categories of genocidal acts in the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention” through the destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities, including maternity hospitals and wards and Gaza’s main IVF clinic.

Mass Forced Displacement

·      Israeli forces have forcibly displaced 90% of Gaza’s population, issuing ‘evacuation’ orders for 80% of the territory. Most displaced civilians are now crammed into makeshift tent encampments, such as in al-Mawasi, where sufficient basic survival conditions do not exist. Despite being designated a ‘safe zone,’ al-Mawasi was repeatedly attacked by Israeli forces, further endangering displaced Palestinians.

·      Israel's security cabinet has approved plans that include the expansion of their assault on Gaza, which will forcibly displace Palestinians to the South. These plans include seizing the Gaza Strip and controlling aid.

·      Palestinians who were allowed to return to northern Gaza have found their homes reduced to rubble. Across Gaza, 92% of homes and 96% of schools have been damaged or destroyed, with experts estimating that it will take up to 20 years to clear the 50 million tonnes of debris left behind by Israeli airstrikes.

Killing and Maiming of Civilians

·      Since 7 October, 2023, Israeli bombardment and ground offensives have killed over 52,653 Palestinians, with children making up 44% of fatalities during the first 6 months of the war. UN experts have also documented deliberate targeting and extrajudicial executions of children in places of refuge or while fleeing.

·     Israeli bombardment has left Gaza with the highest number of child amputees per capita in modern history. Chronic malnutrition, inadequate medical care, and continued exposure to violence are inflicting lifelong physical and psychological trauma on Palestinian children, leading experts to warn of a generation irreparably damaged by the war. 

·       In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that there is a plausible risk of genocide being committed by Israel in Gaza and ordered Provisional Measures to protect the Palestinian population.  The UN Special Committee concluded that ‘the policies and practices of Israel...are consistent with the characteristics of genocide’.

Atrocities in the West Bank

Since October 2023, Israeli forces have escalated violence in the West Bank, conducting airstrikes and mass forced displacements. Civilians have been targeted, hospitals attacked, and entire communities besieged. Israeli authorities have publicly stated their intent to apply the ‘lessons learned’ in Gaza to the West Bank, leading to a dramatic increase in unlawful killings.

Starting in January 2025 Israel has embarked on its longest military operation in the West Bank for more than 2 decades, launching devastating attacks in the northern cities of Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas, which have killed at least 60 Palestinians, including nine children, and injured dozens more.

The ongoing Israeli military assault on the northern occupied West Bank, which has seen the deployment of tanks for the first time in over 20 years, has caused the forced displacement of more than 40,000 Palestinians from their homes.

The UN has raised alarm bells about Israel’s expanding use of unlawful force in the West Bank, warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis.