The U.N. Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israeli authorities have enabled and at times protected settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, with settler violence up 130% since 2023. The report documents assaults, abductions (including of children) and sexual threats, and calls out failures of accountability. It also details serious abuses by Hamas in Gaza, including public executions, and reconfirms that the Oct. 7 attacks and subsequent actions by both sides amount to war crimes. The commission urged international pressure to dismantle settlements and curb violence.
U.N. Inquiry Finds Israeli Forces Shield Settlers as West Bank Violence Surges
Palestinians observe, as heavy machinery demolishes a Palestinian house near Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 8, 2026. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
GENEVA, June 9 — A United Nations Commission of Inquiry has concluded that Israeli authorities played a direct role in enabling and, at times, protecting settlers who carried out violent attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The report says a climate of impunity, supported by financial and military enabling and failures of judicial and law-enforcement oversight, has allowed attacks to increase dramatically since 2023.
Key Findings
Settler Violence in the West Bank
The commission documented a 130% rise in settler attacks on Palestinian villages and farmland since 2023, including incidents carried out by groups of masked assailants. It found repeated instances in which Israeli security forces accompanied settlers and effectively shielded them from intervention. According to U.N. figures cited in the report, at least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 were injured last year, with near-daily violence continuing into 2026.
The inquiry recorded assaults, abductions and the abuse of Palestinian children. One disturbing case described in the report occurred on April 19, 2025, when a 12-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother were seized at knifepoint, dragged into an olive grove and tied to a tree with plastic restraints until family members intervened. The commission additionally documented threats and sexual violence aimed at terrorizing Palestinian women.
Hamas Abuses in Gaza
The commission also documented serious abuses by Hamas-affiliated forces in the Gaza Strip. Investigators linked Hamas forces to at least 60 of 249 documented cases of executions and severe physical violence in 2024–2025, including beatings with metal pipes and bone-breaking allegedly used as punishment for suspected collaboration with Israel or for looting aid. In two instances, a total of 11 men were publicly executed. The commission said such acts amount to war crimes.
The inquiry reaffirmed that the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel — which it said killed roughly 1,200 people and involved hostage-taking and destruction of property — constituted war crimes. Those attacks precipitated a large-scale Israeli military operation in Gaza that the commission has previously said killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and severely damaged the territory; that earlier report also concluded that some actions by Israeli forces amounted to genocide, a finding Israel rejected as “scandalous.”
Accountability and International Response
The commission warned that the increasing participation of Israeli security forces in settler attacks represents "a de facto collapse of the distinction between settlers and soldiers," and said the violence has been used to advance policies such as unlawful occupation, displacement of Palestinians and de facto annexation. The commission’s chair, S. Muralidhar, urged the international community to press Israel to dismantle settlements and outposts and to take meaningful steps to curb the violence.
Israeli authorities and the military did not immediately respond to requests for comment; Hamas also did not reply to requests. Palestinian leaders called for stronger international measures, including potential sanctions, while Israeli officials say incidents of troops shielding settlers are rogue acts that are investigated — a process rights groups say seldom leads to punishment.
“The relentless, daily assaults by Israeli settlers against Palestinians are intolerable — and must end,” the commission said.
Reporting was led by Olivia Le Poidevin, with additional reporting from Rami Ayyub, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta. The piece was edited by Peter Graff.
Help us improve.
