The damning reports released Wednesday, which cover events up to the end of 2023, paint an alarming picture of both sides routinely disregarding international law in a devastating conflict that has now raged for more than eight months, bitterly dividing global opinion and sending tensions soaring across the Middle East.
The siege of Gaza represents a “collective punishment against the civilian population,” according to the UN report – which accused Israel of withholding critical goods like water, food, electricity, fuel and humanitarian aid for “strategic and political gains.” Sexual violence and inflammatory rhetoric The report detailed allegations of Israeli forces carrying out sexual violence in both Gaza and the Israel-occupied West Bank – intended to drive home “the subordination of an occupied people.