UN panel says Israel committed crimes against humanity in West Bank

A United Nations investigative panel reported on Monday that Israeli authorities committed crimes against humanity in the occupied West Bank. The commission cited extermination, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence as key findings. This determination arrived the day before Israel’s general election.

The panel, known as the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, issued the report while Israeli forces enforced a clampdown in Hebron. Military units carried out expulsions and demolitions in the city following a gun attack last week. The report notes that the situation in the territory has deteriorated since October 2023.

The investigators concluded that Israeli military operations, combined with sustained settler violence, amount to a widespread and systematic attack against civilians. They stated that Israeli authorities intended to collectively punish West Bank residents due to the Hamas attack that began the regional conflict. The report covers killings and bodily harm caused by both Israeli and Palestinian security forces since that date.

Israel’s mission in Geneva rejected the findings, calling the report part of a misinformation campaign to demonize the state. The mission said the international community should reject the distortions and demand the commission’s immediate dissolution. It described the panel’s work as an effort to portray Israel’s very existence as criminal.

The commission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021. It does not speak for the UN as a whole. Former South African High Court judge Navi Pillay chaired the investigation until November 2025. She won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month. The group previously determined in a September 2025 report that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

Data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs shows 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 those victims were children. In Gaza, the Health Ministry says more than 74,500 people have been killed and nearly the entire population displaced.

The commission’s new report focuses on the period following the Hamas attack from Gaza. It found that nationality, race, and ethnicity were at the core of the persecution. The panel’s findings add to the legal scrutiny facing Israel as it prepares for its upcoming national vote.