
UN experts have accused Israel of increasingly using sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians and carrying out "genocidal acts" through the systematic destruction of maternal and reproductive healthcare facilities.
A report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council documents alleged violations, including rape, in Gaza and the occupied West Bank since Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.
It also says the destruction of maternity wards in Gaza and embryos at a fertility clinic could indicate a strategy to prevent births among a particular group - one of the legal definitions of genocide.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded angrily, calling the Human Rights Council "an antisemitic, rotten, terrorist-supporting and irrelevant body".
Instead of focusing on war crimes committed by Hamas, he said, it was attacking Israel with "false accusations".