What specific incidents in Gaza since October 2023 have been subject to detailed independent on‑site investigations by UN or international forensic teams?
Executive summary
Independent international and UN-led teams have carried out detailed on-site examinations of multiple categories of incidents in Gaza since 7 October 2023—most prominently attacks on health facilities and medical personnel, patterns of air and artillery strikes (including targeted documentation by forensic research groups), and alleged field executions and treatment of detainees and hostages—though reporting shows investigations vary in scope, methodology and access, and some findings remain contested by other researchers and by Israel [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry — a broad, multi‑site probe
The UN Human Rights Council’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry has been investigating events in Gaza on and since 7 October 2023 for more than two years, conducting field work and compiling factual and legal findings across multiple incidents and locations that include killings, forced displacement, attacks on infrastructure and treatment of detainees and hostages; its published conclusions assert war crimes, crimes against humanity and in later outputs assess genocidal acts, reflecting evidence gathered during on‑the‑ground inquiries and document review [4] [5] [6].
2. Systematic probes into attacks on health facilities and medical personnel
One of the clearest examples of on‑site UN forensic and fact‑finding attention is the Commission’s detailed investigation into Israeli attacks on hospitals, ambulances and medical staff in Gaza, where the UN concluded that health facilities, including neonatal and paediatric services, were deliberately impacted and that medical personnel were killed, detained or tortured—findings the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Commission set out after collecting testimony and site evidence [1].
3. Forensic Architecture and open‑source documentation of airstrike patterns
International forensic research groups performed intensive on‑site and remote forensic mapping of air and artillery strikes in the early weeks of the war; Forensic Architecture documented 1,028 airstrikes between 7 and 28 October 2023 and mapped strikes in areas declared “safe” in the southern Strip, providing spatial, photographic and witness‑based forensic outputs used by rights investigators [2]. Forensic Architecture’s later work has also documented damage to agricultural land and civilian infrastructure across Gaza [7].
4. Investigations into alleged field executions, “kill zones,” and cases submitted to international prosecutors
Human rights groups and UN actors have investigated allegations of summary executions and unlawful killings documented in video and witness material; organizations such as Euro‑Med Monitor compiled files on dozens of alleged field executions and submitted them to the International Criminal Court and UN special rapporteurs, while the UN and NGOs reviewed forensic evidence and footage as part of broader probes into conduct by Israeli forces [3] [5].
5. Probes into treatment of detainees, hostages and journalists
The Commission explicitly investigated the treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israel and Israeli and foreign hostages in Gaza, documenting mistreatment, torture and sexual violence against detainees and hostages based on interviews and medical and forensic evidence; at the same time the UN has flagged the high number of journalists killed in Gaza and called for impartial inquiries into those incidents [1] [8].
6. Accountability, access and contested interpretations
Although UN and international forensic teams have conducted detailed site and evidence work, their findings have been challenged or framed differently by other researchers and stakeholders: a critical academic study questioned some broad allegations and argued that systematic policies such as planned starvation or an overarching civilian‑targeting directive were not demonstrated in its analysis, while Israel has at times refused to cooperate with UN inquiries or criticized perceived bias—demonstrating that access, methodology and political context shape what independent on‑site investigations can conclusively determine [9] [3].
7. What remains unspecified in the public record
Sources confirm multiple categories of incidents received detailed independent scrutiny—health facility attacks, specific airstrike clusters, alleged field executions, and detainee/hostage treatment—but do not provide a consolidated public list that names every individual strike or building that was subject to an on‑site forensic team’s complete technical examination; therefore reporting can identify programmatic investigations and representative cases but cannot, on the basis of the provided sources alone, enumerate every single incident for which full on‑site forensic reports were produced [4] [2] [1].