Which historical incidents are cited as Israeli war crimes?

The incidents cited as Israeli war crimes run from Deir Yassin (April 1948), Qibya (October 1953) and Kafr Qasim (October 1956) — where an Israeli military court itself convicted eight Border Policemen for massacring 49 civilians — through the 1967 killing of Egyptian POWs at Ras Sedr to the Gaza campaigns of 2008–09, 2014 and October 2023. The full list is long, and each entry below is documented.

Lebanon 1982: Sabra and Shatila

In September 1982, militiamen murdered more than 3,000 Palestinian refugees in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila camps while Israeli soldiers surrounded the camps to prevent refugees fleeing and fired flares to illuminate the area at night. Israel’s own Kahan Commission found Israeli officials indirectly responsible — an admission from within Israel itself.

ICC war crimes investigations of the Gaza conflict

The International Criminal Court opened a war crimes investigation into the Gaza conflict, one of several investigations into possible war crimes committed by both Hamas and Israel. In 2016 the ICC was in touch with Israeli authorities over the 2014 Gaza conflict — Operation Protective Edge — and Israel was engaging with the ICC over that war crimes inquiry. The December 2008 Gaza conflict likewise led to allegations of violations of the law of war against both sides, examined in the UN’s Goldstone Report. Netanyahu calls genocide allegations “the biggest lie of the century,” yet the UN found genocidal acts continuing even after the ceasefire, “the inevitable result of a strategy… disregarding… distinction, proportionality and adequate precautions.” Israel’s own 74 domestic military-advocate cases are no substitute — hence independent compilations from 1948 to 2023¹ and cross-checked incident lists².

UN reports on Israeli violations of international law in Gaza

UN reports document Israeli violations of international law in Gaza directly: the UN rights office found Israel’s choice of means and methods of warfare likely “consistently violated” the laws of war, citing broad-scale killing of civilians, repeated displacement, destruction of homes and denial of food; the UN Commission of Inquiry found Israeli authorities responsible for starvation as a method of warfare, murder, intentionally directing attacks against civilians, forcible transfer and torture (UN record³, report⁴).