From the Liveblog of
Thursday, February 19, 2026
UN report: Hamas may be guilty of war crimes over treatment of hostages, killing of GHF staff
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A United Nations report finds that the killing last June of 12 Palestinian staff associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation by armed men, including possible summary executions, may amount to war crimes by Hamas.
Hamas has declined to comment on the shootings.
The report raises concerns about the use of civilians as human shields to prevent Israeli attacks, something Israel has long accused Hamas of doing and that the terror group has denied, and outlined unnecessary or disproportionate use of force by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
The holding of and mistreatment of hostages taken in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack may amount to war crimes and potentially other atrocity crimes, the report says. It cites allegations of torture, beating and deprivation of food.
“There must also be accountability for serious violations of international law, including possible international crimes, by Hamas and its armed wing, Al Qassam Brigades as well as other Palestinian armed groups,” the report says of the terror group.
The same UN report says Israel’s actions “raise concerns over ethnic cleansing” in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The report says the GHF, the controversial Israeli- and US-backed system for aid distribution that operated last year, “failed utterly” to deliver humanitarian aid at the scale required, violating Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law.
Israel dismisses the report.
The Times of Israel Community.