What organisations and institutions say about the conflict in Gaza

This page is meant as a reference sheet for people going home to family members susceptible to misinformation that want to refer to sources generally accepted to be non-partisan and non-political. The sources here are mostly non-profits (e.g. Human Rights Watch and the Red Cross) and UN organisations. Hopefully this will provide a common basis of truth that may any discussions.

Media outlets won't be included in this page due to their susceptibility to partisan scrutiny, which means the quality of the argument is about the medium and the messenger, and not the facts.

Human Rights Watch

20 November 2025
Link to the press release
"The Israeli government’s forced displacement of the populations of three West Bank refugee camps in January and February 2025 amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity." (HRW)

UN Human Rights Council

16 September 2025
Link to the press release
"The Commission concludes on reasonable grounds that the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have committed and are continuing to commit the following actus reus of genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip [...]"

“On incitement to genocide, the Commission concludes that Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, have incited the commission of genocide […]”

“On the mens rea of genocide, the Commission concludes that statements made by Israeli authorities are direct evidence of genocidal intent.”

“The Commission concludes that the State of Israel bears responsibility for the failure to prevent genocide, the commission of genocide and the failure to punish genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.” (Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, on behalf of the UN HRC)

International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)

31 August 2025
Link to the press release
"[...] Therefore, the International Association of Genocide Scholars:

Declares that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948);

Declares that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity as defined in international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;” (IAGS)

Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHRI)

28 July 2025
Link to the press release
"[...] concluding that it constitutes genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The evidence shows a deliberate and systematic dismantling of Gaza's health and life-sustaining systems - through targeted attacks on hospitals, obstruction of medical aid and evacuations, and the killing and detention of healthcare personnel." (PHRI)

B'Tselem (Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories)

28 July 2025
Link to the press release
"An examination of Israel's policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack, leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip. In other words: Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip." (B'Tselem)

NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies

13 May 2025
Link to the press release
""Hunger is a weapon", sais NIOD-director Martijn Eickhoff, a day after UN food watchdog IPC concluded that the entire population in Gaza is at serious risk of starvation. "If an entire population is denied access too food, is that potentially genocidal."" Martijn Eickhoff (Director of NIOD)

International Court of Justice

19 July 2024
Link to the press release
"However, the Court recalls that, from a legal standpoint, the Occupied Palestinian Territory constitutes a single territorial unit, the unity, contiguity and integrity of which is to be preserved and respected." (ICJ)
"[...] the Court found that Israel’s settlement policy was in breach of the sixth paragraph of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention"
"[...] the Court considers that the transfer by Israel of settlers to the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as Israel’s maintenance of their presence, is contrary to the sixth paragraph of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention."
"[...] the Court considers that transfer may be “forcible” — and thus prohibited under the first paragraph of Article 49 — not only when it is achieved through the use of physical force, but also when the people concerned have no choice but to leave."

International Criminal Court

21 November 2024
Link to the press release
"With regard to the crimes, the Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu [...] and Mr Gallant [...] each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts." (ICC)

Amnesty International

5 December 2024
Link to the press release
"Our research reveals that, for months, Israel has persisted in committing genocidal acts, fully aware of the irreparable harm it was inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza. It continued to do so in defiance of countless warnings about the catastrophic humanitarian situation and of legally binding decisions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [...]" (Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International)

Médecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders)

19 December 2024
Link to the press release
"[...] the signs of ethnic cleansing and the ongoing devastation—including mass killings, severe physical and mental health injuries, forced displacement, and impossible conditions of life for Palestinians under siege and bombardment—are undeniable." (MSF)

Human Rights Watch

19 December 2024
Link to the press release
"Israeli authorities' and forces' actions to deprive the population of Gaza of access to water amount to acts of genocide under the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court." (HRW)

UN Special Committee

20 September 2024
Link to the press release
"The developments in this report lead the Special Committee to conclude that the policies and practices of Israel during the reporting period are consistent with the characteristics of genocide. The targeting of Palestinians as a group; the life - threatening conditions imposed on Palestinians in Gaza through warfare and restrictions on humanitarian aid - resulting in physical destruction, increased miscarriages and stillbirths - and the killing of and serious bodily or mental harm caused to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are violations under international law." (page 25, § 69)

Fact Sheets

Organisation Title Link
ICRC Israel and the Occupied Territories: Key Facts and Figures (7 October 2023 - 30 November 2024) Link to the fact sheet
UN Humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip Fast facts Link to the fact sheet
OCHA Humanitarian Situation Updates Link to the fact sheets

Historical Context

The conflict in Gaza that ignited after the Hamas attack on October 7th 2023 did not happen in isolation. Everyone knows the Israel-Palestine issue has been a topic of tension for decades. Here are some objective and uncontroversial sources describing the history of Israel, Palestine, and the Gaza strip.

The UN has a webpage describing the history of the issue of Palestine here. It also comes with a timeline going all the way back to the first use of the word "Zionism" in 1885. The timeline can be found here.

The topic of the Oslo Accords come up quite a bit, and what exactly was agreed to by both parties is outlined here. For a description of what the Oslo Accords and the process leading up to it entailed, see this entry by the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Death tolls on both sides are recorded by the UN since a long time. The statistics webiste Statista published a figure showing the casualties and injuries on both sides since 2008.