A United Nations inquiry has accused Israel of systematically targeting Gaza's healthcare infrastructure during the ongoing Gaza war, actions that the inquiry says amount to war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination.

Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, in a statement on October 10, 2023, accompanying the report, condemned Israel for "relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities." These attacks were allegedly part of Israel's response to the October 7 cross-border attack by Hamas militants. Pillay emphasized that children have been disproportionately affected by the collapse of Gaza's healthcare system.

The 24-page report, which covers the first 10 months of the war, will be presented to the UN General Assembly on October 30. Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva has strongly rejected the findings, calling them an "outrageous" effort to undermine Israel's right to defend itself.

Israel argues that Gaza militants operate within civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, and that its military strikes target those locations to neutralize threats, while aiming to avoid civilian casualties. Hamas denies using civilians as shields for its military operations.

The UN report also accuses Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical workers, attacking ambulances, and restricting patient transfers out of Gaza. One cited example is the death of a Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, who, along with her rescuers, was killed by Israeli fire despite the ambulance's route being coordinated with Israeli forces.