UN Panel Accuses Israel of Systematic Extermination in West Bank

United Nations investigators reported on Monday that Israeli forces committed crimes against humanity, including extermination, in the occupied West Bank. The panel accused the Israeli government of waging a widespread and systematic attack against civilians, a finding that lands one day before Israel’s general election.

The commission, which does not speak for the UN itself, identified torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence as part of the offenses. It stated that these actions constitute persecution based on nationality, race, and ethnicity. The report marks a sharp escalation in the body’s findings, following its determination in September 2025 that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

The panel calculated that 1,143 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between October 7, 2023, and October 9, 2026. At least 250 of those victims were children. The investigators concluded that Israeli authorities intended to collectively punish West Bank civilians in response to the Hamas attack that began the regional conflict.

Israel’s mission in Geneva rejected the findings, labeling the report a misinformation campaign designed to demonize the state. The mission called for the international community to repudiate the commission’s findings and demand its immediate dissolution. The report was released while Israeli troops carried out a clampdown in Hebron, including expulsions and demolitions, following a gun attack last week.

The three-member team was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021. Former South African High Court judge Navi Pillay chaired the investigation until November 2025 and won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month. The new report focuses on bodily and mental harm caused by both Israeli and Palestinian security forces since the October 2023 attack.

The commission noted that the situation in the territory has deteriorated gravely since that date. It found that sustained settler violence reinforces Israeli military operations. This finding follows a devastating offensive in Gaza, which has displaced nearly the entire population and killed more than 74,500 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.