UN Commission Accuses Israel and Palestinian Authority of Rights Violations

A United Nations commission released a report Monday accusing Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the West Bank and Gaza. The same report also accuses the Palestinian Authority of arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and targeting journalists, activists and human rights defenders. Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry rejected the report, calling it a "propaganda document detached from reality."

The commission counted Palestinian deaths caused by Israeli airstrikes in the West Bank. Six Palestinians were killed by airstrikes between 2008 and October 6, 2023. From October 7, 2023 through September 30, 2026, the count reached 254. The report also said nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed annually in the West Bank since 2022, the highest figures recorded since the UN began collecting data on the subject in 2005.

Airstrike frequency rose after Operation Iron Wall launched in January 2025. The commission noted strikes concentrated in refugee camps and areas around Jenin, Tulkarm, Tubas and Nablus. The commission described the operation as a shift toward widespread destruction of Palestinian housing and infrastructure.

Srinivasan Muralidhar, an Indian jurist who chairs the Commission of Inquiry, said in the report: "The intentional killing and injuring of Palestinian civilians and destruction of homes in the West Bank combined with Israel's persistent denial of responsibility form part of a broader strategy to exterminate and displace Palestinians and impose conditions of life that are unliveable."

The report also cited statements by Israeli officials. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich referred to "two million Nazis" in the West Bank in November 2023. In January 2025, he wrote that Fondouk, Nablus and Jenin should "look like Jabalia." The commission also referenced a reported May 2026 statement by IDF Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth that soldiers were "killing like we haven't since 1967."

The commission said it verified four additional cases of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees since a March 2025 report. Two victims were from the West Bank. One case involved a male detainee at Megiddo Prison in 2025 who was allegedly blindfolded, forced to remove his lower garments, and raped with objects during interrogation. The commission concluded Israeli authorities committed crimes against humanity involving torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence.

On the Palestinian Authority, the report cited excessive force during West Bank protests in October 2023, when at least two men, a boy and a girl were killed in Ramallah, Tubas and Jenin. The PA accepted responsibility for the boy's death, who was run over by a security forces vehicle. The commission also investigated the December 2024 killing of a Palestinian journalism student in Jenin refugee camp. She was killed by a single shot to the neck near her home. Palestinian security forces blamed "outlaws" and said the case was under investigation.

The commission said the PA violated the right to life and the right to security of person. It also said the PA failed to conduct prompt, effective and impartial investigations into killings or provide effective remedies to victims and their families.

The report also addressed statements by Israeli officials, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and IDF Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth. The report was released Monday, October 26, 2026.