A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations' Human Rights Council has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, issuing a report Tuesday that calls on the international community to end the genocide and take steps to punish those responsible for it.

The deeply-documented findings by the three-member team are the latest accusations of genocide against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government by rights advocates as Israeli carries on with its war against Hamas in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people. Israel rejected what it called a “distorted and false” report.

The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which was created four years ago, has repeatedly documented alleged human rights abuses and violations both in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel led by Hamas, and other Palestinian areas.

While neither the commission nor the 47-member-country council that it works for within the U.N. system can take action against a country, the findings could be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court or the U.N.'s International Court of Justice.

The report also amounts to a final message from the team headed by former U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay. All three of its members announced in July that they would resign, citing personal reasons and a need for change.

The team was commissioned by the Human Rights Council, the U.N.’s top human rights body, but it does not speak for the United Nations.

Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission and has accused it and the HRC of anti-Israel bias. Earlier this year, the Trump administration, a key Israeli ally, pulled the United States out of the council.