UN Panel Accuses Israeli Forces of Exterminating West Bank Civilians
Investigators found 1,143 Palestinians killed in the territory since 2023, citing a widespread attack that includes torture and sexual violence.
By Paula Delgado ·
United Nations investigators concluded on Monday that Israel committed the crime against humanity of extermination in the occupied West Bank. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory stated that Israeli authorities and forces also committed torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence. The report characterizes these actions as a widespread and systematic attack on civilians, driven by Israeli military operations and sustained settler violence.
The findings arrived one day before Israel’s general election. The commission reported that 1,143 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem between October 7, 2023, and October 9, 2026. At least 250 of the dead were children. The panel determined that Israeli authorities intended to collectively punish West Bank civilians in response to the Hamas attack from Gaza that began in October 2023.
Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva rejected the conclusions. It described the report as part of a misinformation campaign designed to demonize the state and portray its existence as criminal. The mission called on the international community to repudiate the findings and demand the immediate dissolution of the commission.
The three-member team was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021. Navi Pillay, a former South African High Court judge, chaired the investigation until November 2025. She received the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month. The commission does not speak for the UN itself but previously determined in a September 2025 report that Israel committed genocide in its war on Gaza.
The new report focuses on killings and bodily or mental harm caused by both Israeli and Palestinian security forces since October 2023. Investigators found that conditions in the West Bank have deteriorated gravely since the initial Hamas attack. The release of the document coincided with a fresh clampdown by Israeli forces in Hebron, which included expulsions and demolitions following a gun attack last week.
Context from Gaza shows the scale of the conflict. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the Israeli military offensive has displaced nearly the entire population and killed more than 74,500 people. The West Bank has been under Israeli occupation since 1967.
Source: Al Jazeera
