Goldstone und sein Team kamen zu dem Schluss, dass sowohl Israel als auch die den Gazastreifen kontrollierende Hamas während des zu untersuchenden Konfliktzeitraumes Kriegsverbrechen und möglicherweise Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit begingen. In dem Bericht werden nun glaubwürdige Untersuchungen dieser mutmaßlichen Rechtsverletzungen gefordert.
Goldstone and his team concluded that both Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian group controlling Gaza, committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity during the period of the conflict which the investigation addressed. The report calls for credible investigations of alleged rights violations  and recommends that the UN Security Council require both sides to report back within six months on the results, including any prosecutions they will carry out in connection with the violations identified.