{"id":484419,"date":"2026-06-09T19:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T19:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/484419\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T19:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T19:26:16","slug":"un-report-alleges-war-crimes-in-gaza-citing-extrajudicial-killings-and-maiming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/484419\/","title":{"rendered":"UN report alleges war crimes in Gaza, citing extrajudicial killings and maiming"},"content":{"rendered":"

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) \u2014 Hamas<\/a> militants and police units in Gaza beat, maimed and publicly executed dozens of Palestinians during its war with Israel<\/a> in acts amounting to war crimes, according to a United Nations<\/a> report released Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights\u2019 report documented hundreds of cases of extrajudicial punishment in the war-ravaged territory, which it said were often publicized during and afterward to instill fear in the populace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese cases involved executions, kneecapping, bone-breaking with metal pipes or cement bricks and beatings and were framed by the perpetrators as punishments for alleged collaboration with Israel, looting humanitarian aid, theft, drug-related offenses or affiliations with internal rivals,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The commission found that Hamas-affiliated militants and police forces were involved in nearly one-fourth of the 249 documented cases \u2014 including 108 deaths \u2014 from August 2024 to January 2026. The commission specifically investigated cases involving Hamas-affiliated forces but also counted ones attributed to other armed groups.<\/p>\n

Representatives for Hamas did not respond to questions about the report\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/p>\n

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Hamas has run Gaza for nearly two decades since seizing control of the territory from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority. Since an October ceasefire halted more than two years of full-scale war with Israel, Hamas has steadily reconsolidated its control over the areas of Gaza that it still governs.<\/p>\n

According to Tuesday\u2019s report, rather than being imposed through courts or judges, the punishments were carried out by Hamas\u2019 military wing and police units.<\/p>\n

Srinivasan Muralidhar, the U.N. commission\u2019s chair, said the abuses documented in Gaza were occurring in an \u201cenvironment engineered by Israel,\u201d where \u201cHamas-affiliated forces have exploited the vacuum created by relentless Israeli attacks and widespread destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those targeted<\/a> included anti-Hamas activists and members of Israel-backed clans and armed groups<\/a> that emerged in areas where Hamas\u2019 grip weakened during the war, which has killed nearly 73,000 Palestinians, according to the territory\u2019s Health Ministry.<\/p>\n

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The U.N. report cites executions recorded on video, including one of three blindfolded men who were shot by masked men outside Shifa Hospital in September 2025 before a crowd. It describes another public execution a month later, when eight men were dragged into a public square in Gaza City and shot. Both groups were accused of being spies, traitors and collaborators, according to the report.<\/p>\n

The instances, the commission said, \u201camount to the war crime of murder and to a violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including the right to life, the right to liberty and security and the right to a fair trial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others targeted with beatings and forms of public shaming \u2014 including children \u2014 were accused of theft, drug trafficking or illegally selling tobacco.<\/p>\n

Witnesses also told the commission that the punishments were carried out in hospital compounds, including the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. However, it concluded that activities documented \u2014 which don\u2019t target Israel \u2014 don\u2019t forfeit hospitals\u2019 protection under international law. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using schools, hospitals and mosques to stage operations. <\/p>\n

The report is the latest from the world body, which last year accused Israel of committing genocide<\/a>, using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza and of ethnic cleansing<\/a> in the West Bank \u2014 allegations that Israel strenuously denies. Israel has repeatedly accused the U.N. rights office of anti-Israel bias.<\/p>\n

The U.N. report also criticized a growing wave of violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, saying it \u201cfunctions as a means of implementing Israeli state policy, with both the state and violent settler groups working toward the same strategic objectives: entrenchment of Israeli settlements, annexation of Palestinian territory and displacement of Palestinians from their land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry did not respond to questions about the allegations.<\/p>\n

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, 1,098 Palestinians \u2014 including at least 240 children \u2014 have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the occupied West Bank, according to U.N. figures. Amid the violence, Bedouin communities in rural areas have been driven from their land as new Israeli outposts have sprung up and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s pro-settler government has moved to legalize others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) \u2014 Hamas militants and police units in Gaza beat, maimed and publicly executed dozens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[120,159991,49,20890,69,122,51,42,1155,119,8072,46,1984,61,13596,2034,3896,43,7319,3894,13591,40,38,41,39,4497,3897,121,14753,126],"class_list":["post-484419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-capital-punishment","tag-gaza-strip","tag-general-news","tag-hamas","tag-headlines","tag-human-rights","tag-international-agreements","tag-international-news","tag-israel","tag-israel-government","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-law-enforcement","tag-mideast-wars","tag-military-and-defense","tag-news","tag-religion","tag-shootings","tag-theft","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-nations","tag-violence","tag-war-and-unrest","tag-war-crimes","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}