The genocide
they told us
not to see.

In early October 2026, aid organizations reported Palestinian families sheltering in unsafe buildings or makeshift encampments as another winter approached. OCHA estimated that approximately 279,000 people were in flood-prone sites or unsafe buildings, while desalination facilities in southern Gaza operated far below capacity because equipment and spare parts were unavailable. Its report estimated that 74% of residents relied on trucked drinking water. These conditions persisted nearly one year after a ceasefire agreement and three years after the war began. [07]

When water supplies are interrupted, families must find other ways to obtain enough safe water for drinking and sanitation, often while living in damaged or temporary accommodation. Medical care also depends on electricity, functioning equipment and supplies that can be replenished. The humanitarian reports describe how the loss of those systems continues to shape the lives of civilians after a particular attack has ended.

The UN commission, Amnesty International and Israeli human-rights organizations reached genocide conclusions after examining conduct affecting Palestinians in Gaza and evidence concerning intent. Israel disputes those findings and says its military campaign sought to defeat Hamas. Readers can consult the institutional reports alongside the state's responses, with the independent commission's legal conclusion clearly separated from the judgment that remains pending before the ICJ. [01] [02] [04] [10]

The Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023 killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel and involved the taking of 251 hostages, according to the cited records. The UN commission also documented crimes by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups against Israeli civilians. Israel subsequently described defeating Hamas and securing the hostages as military objectives. This investigation tests the conduct and restrictions imposed during that campaign against the protections owed to Palestinian civilians and the Genocide Convention's separate requirements concerning prohibited acts and intent. [31] [01]

Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention defines genocide through specified acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such. The treaty identifies five categories of acts. In September 2025, an independent UN commission found reasonable grounds to conclude that Israeli authorities and security forces committed acts in four categories and possessed the required intent. The panels below explain those categories with links to the Convention and the commission's analysis; the ICJ proceedings on state responsibility remain pending. [01] [09]

Each panel identifies a category of conduct under Article II and summarizes the commission's finding in that category. The requirement to establish specific intent applies to the alleged genocide as a whole, and a documented act alone does not establish that intent. Readers can open the underlying report to examine how the commission evaluated the evidence.

The Palestinians whose accounts appear here spoke to B'Tselem field researchers under their own names. Their accounts describe bereavement, the search for basic necessities and repeated displacement, with interview dates visible at the original publisher. The article offers short, attributed summaries and links to each full account. It does not claim that every circumstance described by a witness has been independently adjudicated, and it does not republish personal media without verified permission.

Reuters reported that Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians in Gaza on October 10, 2026, during the period following the previous year's ceasefire agreement. The same report attributed a cumulative toll of more than 74,000 Palestinian deaths to Gaza health authorities as of its publication date. Separately, OCHA documented continuing constraints on shelter and water services. These sources describe the persistence of danger and deprivation while retaining their different methods and reporting periods. [12] [07]

The commission's finding of genocide is based on its analysis of prohibited acts and specific intent, with related conclusions issued by other human-rights organizations. Palestinian testimony records the experiences of particular families, while humanitarian assessments measure the destruction of homes and essential services. U.S. records establish documented military and legal decisions. The reader can therefore examine how these separate bodies of evidence relate to the allegations, while recognizing what each source can and cannot establish.