Since the start of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, the UN Human Rights Council has identified "clear evidence" of war crimes by both Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces. A UN Commission to the Israel–Palestine conflict stated that there is "clear evidence that war crimes may have been committed in the latest explosion of violence in Israel and Gaza, and all those who have violated international law and targeted civilians must be held accountable". On 27 October, a spokesperson for the OHCHR called for an independent court to review potential war crimes committed by both sides. On 29 December, South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, alleging that Israel's conduct amounted to genocide.
The International Criminal Court confirmed that its mandate to investigate alleged war crimes committed since June 2014 in the State of Palestine extends to the current conflict. On 20 May 2024, the Chief Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan announced his intention to seek arrest warrants against leaders of both sides of the conflict, including Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh, and Israeli leaders Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif, alleging "criminal responsibility" for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
By Israel
Numerous charges of war crimes have been levied against Israel for its actions against civilians. These charges have come from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B'tselem, and human rights groups and experts, including UN rapporteurs. Antony Blinken indicated the Biden administration has a "high tolerance" for whatever happens in Gaza. In October 2023, the White House stated it had no red lines for Israeli actions.
Proportionality and distinction
Israel's adherence to the principles of discrimination and proportionality as required by the laws of war has been questioned. Human Rights Watch has stated that the overall civilian death toll, and Israel's use of powerful weapons in Gaza's densely populated neighbourhoods, raised "serious questions" about the legality of Israel's conduct. Human Rights Watch further argued that a higher proportion of casualties among women and children is indicative of a lack of proportionality, demonstrating what they describe as "a disregard toward Palestinian lives". Amnesty International accused Israel of war crimes in a report where it analyzed five incidents between 7 and 12 October where the IDF targeted residential areas in Gaza. It found that in several cases the IDF struck targets with no evidence of military activity and that these attacks were "indiscriminate" in nature. Anonymous IDF officials cited in a report by +972 Magazine indicated a "loosening of constraints" in the rules of engagement, and that in numerous cases the IDF struck targets despite no evidence of military activity. The report claims that the rationale behind such attacks was "to harm Palestinian civil society" and, according to one source cited by the report, to "lead civilians to put pressure on Hamas".
Experts cited by The Washington Post argue that certain Israeli airstrikes show that Israel has a tolerance for civilian casualties "orders of magnitude greater" than that of the US in its war against ISIS. United Nations officials and human rights groups have argued that Israel has not done enough to protect civilians. In March 2024, the United Nations said that more children were killed in Gaza in four months than in four years of worldwide wars. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, declared: "This war is a war on children". Mark Perlmutter, an American doctor working in Gaza, reported that Israeli snipers were targeting children, stating, "No toddler gets shot twice by mistake by the 'world's best sniper.' And they're dead-center shots."
Emanuela-Chiara Gillard, an associate fellow at Chatham House, argued that, given the size and nature of the 7 October attacks, Israel has a right of self-defence that could include its stated military aim of destroying Hamas, which has threatened to repeat its assault and eradicate the state of Israel. According to The Economist, the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law grant Israel flexibility when it comes to taking military action against Hamas, but in its view, Israel's "definition of military targets is being stretched to breaking-point".
Amichai Cohen, an Israeli lawyer, alleges that Israel does not deliberately target civilians but that Hamas's tactics make it hard to take action without affecting civilians. Jill Goldenziel, a professor at the United States National Defense University and Marine Corps University, states that if Israel conducted every strike legally and with utmost precision, civilian casualties in war would remain, and the goal of a proportionality analysis is to decide whether they are excessive. Israeli security officials state that their proportionality criteria in this conflict are unchanged and that they receive legal advice in relation to strikes. Other Israeli officials, speaking anonymously, acknowledged that Israel has struck "private residences and public structures, like the Gaza Parliament and the Islamic University", which would not previously have been considered valuable enough to justify the risk to civilian life.
In April 2024, Human Rights Watch found that Israel violated international law by launching an airstrike on an apartment building in Gaza, killing 106 people, including 54 children, as there were no viable military targets in the area. In October 2024, The New York Times reported compiled testimony from 44 doctors, nurses, and paramedics who treated multiple cases of preteen children with gunshot wounds to the head or chest in Gaza. Inquiries sent to the IDF regarding the experiences of these health care workers received a statement from a spokesperson that did not directly confirm whether investigations into the shootings of preteen children had been conducted or if any soldiers faced disciplinary action for firing at them. In response to claims alleging that the report was based on "fabricated evidence", The New York Times issued a statement defending the integrity of the piece, emphasizing that it had undergone rigorous editing and verification, including consultations with experts and the use of supporting photographs, which they deemed "too horrific for publication".
In October 2024, the New York Times published an investigation claiming that Israel's military leadership issued an order allowing officers to risk up to 20 civilian deaths per target. Some strikes exceeded that threshold with over 100 civilian deaths for killing one target. The investigation also accuses Israel of dropping excessively big and imprecise bombs on targets where smaller and more precise bombs would've been usable.
Targeted attacks on non-military targets
In the first week of the war, the IDF carried out 6,000 airstrikes across Gaza, killing over 3,300 civilians and injuring over 12,000. The strikes hit specifically protected locations, including hospitals, markets, refugee camps, mosques, educational facilities, and entire neighborhoods. A group of UN special rapporteurs asserted that Israel's airstrikes are indiscriminate, stating that the airstrikes are "absolutely prohibited under international law and amounts to a war crime".
A +972 Magazine investigation found the IDF had expanded authorization for bombing non-military targets. Research conducted by Dr. Yagil Levy at the Open University of Israel confirmed the +972 report, stating Israel was "deliberately targeting residential blocks to cause mass civilian casualties".
During two airstrikes on 10 and 22 October, the IDF used Joint Direct Attack Munitions in attacks described by Amnesty International as "either direct attacks on civilians" or "indiscriminate attacks". On 24 October, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire, after stating Israel had committed "clear violations" of international humanitarian law. On 13 November, Israel shelled the Gaza Reconstruction Committee, leading three Arab states to condemn the attack, with Jordan calling it "a heinous war crime to add to Israel's criminal record." On 12 January 2024, the spokesperson for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights stated Israel's attacks were failing to account for distinction, proportionality and precautions, thus leaving Israel exposed to liability for war crimes.
Analyses by CNN, The New York Times, and Sky News all found that Israel had bombed areas it had previously told civilians to evacuate to. The Sky News investigation also concluded that Israel's evacuation orders had been "chaotic and contradictory", NYT found that Israel had dropped 2,000-pound bombs in those areas, while CNN stated it had verified at least three locations Israel bombed after telling civilians it was safe to go there. An NBC news investigation found Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in seven areas that the military had designated as safe zones.
In February 2024, the IDF bombed and destroyed the Belgium government's Gaza development office. In response, Belgium summoned the Israeli ambassador and condemned the "destruction of civilian infrastructure" as a violation of international law. On 6 February, the UN stated an Israeli assault on Rafah could lead to war crimes.
On 22 March, Al Jazeera released a video retrieved from an Israeli drone showing four unarmed Palestinians in Khan Younis who were killed by Israeli air attacks. Two were killed instantly, and the others were killed while trying to stumble and crawl away. Al-Jazeera reported that "it is clear from the pictures that these Palestinians were unarmed and posed no threat to anything or anyone". This footage was described by the UN's special rapporteur Francesca Albanese as a part of the "colossal amount of evidence" of war crimes committed in Gaza by Israel. The IDF started the investigation of the footage and said that they had encountered militants in civilian clothes retrieving previously hidden weapons in that area.
In 24 July, during Israel's second incursion in Khan Yunis, eyewitnesses claimed that Israeli snipers that were deployed there would shoot "anyone who is moving", causing over 20 casualties of mostly women and children.
Amnesty International called Israel's indiscriminate attacks illegal and a violation of international law. Secretary General of Amnesty International Agnès Callamard said the 16-year-old "illegal blockade has made Gaza the world's biggest open-air prison", and the international community must now act to avert it from becoming a giant cemetery. Human Rights Watch reported that Israel has completely shut down communications and put lives at risk in Gaza by carrying out relentless airstrikes and damage to the main communications infrastructure, electricity cuts, fuel blockades, and deliberate shutdowns through technical measures. Deborah Brown, senior technology researcher at Human Rights Watch, said a deliberate shutdown, or restriction of Internet access, is a human rights violation and can be deadly during a crisis. A complete disruption of communications, such as that experienced in Gaza, can provide cover for crimes and impunity, while further undermining humanitarian efforts and putting lives at risk.
According to Reuters, Israel laid siege to Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, and launched the most powerful bombing campaign in the 75-year-old history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, destroying entire neighbourhoods. Israeli ground forces then swept into Gaza with the stated aim of annihilating Hamas, which runs the enclave. Following reports about Israel's use of automated systems for target selection, experts in international humanitarian law stated they were alarmed by accounts that the IDF was accepting "damage ratios as high as 20 civilians", even for lower-ranking militants.
Rebecca Gould wrote September 2025 on scholasticide and genocidal epistemicide in Palestine that "the targeted nature of Israeli attacks on education – on the very possibility of a Palestinian future in Gaza – has gone beyond anything that has previously been seen in Palestine."
In November 2025, Munir Al-Bursh, Director-General of the Gaza Health Ministry, stated that Israeli forces had left booby-trapped children's toys in various neighborhoods throughout the Gaza Strip. These devices were designed to detonate when handled by children. Regional media outlets reported his remarks.