Echo of Freedom

A year ago, the world was told the war in Gaza was coming to an end. A new report from UN-appointed investigators says that for Palestinians it never did. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in its report of 26 October, found that Israeli authorities and forces continue to commit genocidal acts in Gaza, with the intent to destroy Palestinians in whole or in part.

A ceasefire in name only

The commission says Israeli forces kept using heavy munitions, drones, artillery and sniper fire in crowded areas after the truce began in October 2025. Israel has extended its control from 53 percent of Gaza to at least 60 percent, and the investigators link much of the killing to that advance, including people shot near or across the so-called yellow line. Media reports of the document say 1,431 Palestinians were killed between the ceasefire and the end of September 2026, among them 300 children. The commission also rejected the Board of Peace’s claim that the ceasefire had largely held. For families living in tents and ruins, a truce on paper has meant very little.

Beyond Gaza

The report does not stop at Gaza. It also finds that Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied West Bank, including extermination, persecution, torture, rape and other sexual violence. The Associated Press noted that it could not independently verify some of the graphic accounts, which is one more reason these allegations need independent investigation. Taken together, the findings describe a pattern that reaches far beyond a single battlefield or a single year.

Children in the rubble

Behind every number is a family. Children in Gaza still carry water through the ruins of their homes, and they are still being killed. This is not the commission’s first warning. In September 2025 it concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, and in June it accused Israel of deliberately killing Palestinian children. Each time, the world heard the findings and moved on.

What should happen now

The commission is made up of independent experts, and its findings are not a court ruling. That is exactly why they should be tested before courts. Governments should enforce a real ceasefire, open Gaza fully to humanitarian aid, and support independent investigations and prosecutions wherever the evidence leads. In 2025 the commission also urged states to stop weapons transfers that could contribute to genocide. Ordinary people have a role too: to keep asking their governments what they are doing, and to refuse to let these findings be forgotten. A truce that does not stop the killing protects no one, and the world cannot keep calling it a ceasefire.

Sources: UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, report of 26 October 2026, as reported by CBC News, ABC News Australia, Al Jazeera, The National and Türkiye Today; NPR, 16 September 2025.