Palestinian civilians are trapped between escalating settler violence in the occupied West Bank and fear-based Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip, investigators appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Tuesday in a new report.
They “are being systematically and deliberately subjected to severe violations of human rights law by all parties to the region’s conflict,” according to the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.
“Violence by settlers is the direct outcome of Israeli policies that support, enable and protect their actions, whereas Hamas-affiliated forces have exploited the vacuum created by relentless Israeli attacks and widespread destruction of Gaza,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, the Commission’s chair.
“What is alarmingly similar is the deliberate infliction of suffering on Palestinian civilians. While their origins and motivations differ, both operate within environments engineered by Israel.”
Settlements, annexation and displacement
The report warned that settler attacks continue to rise in the West Bank, with at least seven Palestinians killed and 832 injured last year – a 130 per cent increase over 2024.
It found that the Israeli authorities are directly involved in settler attacks through financial and military support and by granting impunity from prosecution.
Settler violence “functions as a means of implementing Israeli State policy, with both the State and violent settler groups working towards the same strategic objectives: entrenchment of Israeli settlements, annexation of Palestinian territory and displacement of Palestinians from their land,” it said.
The Commission documented several cases of how settlers have assaulted, abducted and abused Palestinian children, including while they were playing outside, headed to school or tending animals.
Sexual violence used to instil fear
Settlers have also committed sexual violence, or threatened to commit sexual violence, to instil fear and humiliate Palestinians.
In one incident, a group of settlers attacked Palestinians in Khirbeit Humsa this past March. The women and girls were beaten and threatened with rape if the family did not leave the land.
“One man was stripped, sexually assaulted, his genitals were zip-tied and he was dragged and paraded while being beaten,” the report said.
“The Israeli police reported that they had arrested seven persons in relation to this attack; however, the Commission is not aware of any investigative or judicial outcomes.” UN NEWS