UN investigators call West Bank actions extermination

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory determined that Israel committed the crime of extermination in the West Bank. The panel also identified torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence as part of a widespread and systematic attack against civilians.

The report states that 1,143 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between October 7, 2023, and October 9, 2026. At least 250 of the victims were children. The data comes from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The commission found that Israeli authorities intended to collectively punish West Bank civilians in response to the Hamas attack that began the current conflict. The report notes that the situation in the territory has deteriorated since October 2023. Israeli military operations, combined with sustained settler violence, formed the basis for the finding of a systematic attack.

Former South African High Court judge Navi Pillay chaired the investigation until November 2025. She won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month. The three-member team was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021. The panel does not speak for the UN itself, though it operates under a UN mandate.

Israel’s mission in Geneva called the report a misinformation campaign designed to demonize the state. The mission stated that the international community should reject the findings and demand the immediate dissolution of the commission. Israel has also flatly rejected a similar finding of genocide in Gaza from a September 2025 report by the same group.

The new report was released the day before Israel’s general election. It arrived while Israeli forces carried out a clampdown in Hebron, including expulsions and demolitions, following a gun attack last week. The commission’s findings cover killings and bodily and mental harm caused by both Israeli and Palestinian security forces since the conflict began.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the Israeli military offensive in Gaza has displaced nearly the entire population and killed more than 74,500 people. The West Bank report focuses specifically on the occupied territory that Israel has controlled since 1967.