UN investigators conclude Israel carried out extermination in West Bank

A United Nations panel declared on Monday that Israel committed the crime of extermination in the occupied West Bank. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory issued the finding one day before Israeli voters went to the polls in a general election. The report states that Israeli military operations and sustained settler violence formed a widespread and systematic attack against civilians in the territory.

The commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, identified torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence as additional crimes against humanity. It attributed these acts to the Israeli government and its forces. The panel also cited persecution based on nationality, race, and ethnicity as a core element of the offenses. The report covers killings and bodily harm caused by both Israeli and Palestinian security forces from October 2023 to October 2026.

UN data cited in the report indicates that 1,143 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during that three-year period. At least 250 of the victims were children. The commission noted that the situation deteriorated sharply after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. It concluded that Israeli authorities intended to collectively punish West Bank civilians in response to that attack.

Israeli forces launched a clampdown in Hebron on Monday, conducting expulsions and demolitions following a gun attack the previous week. Israel’s mission in Geneva rejected the findings, calling the report part of a misinformation campaign designed to demonize the state. The mission stated in a statement that the international community should reject the distortions and demand the immediate dissolution of the commission.

Navi Pillay, the former South African High Court judge who chaired the investigation until November 2025, received the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month. The commission previously determined in a September 2025 report that Israel committed genocide in its war against Gaza. Israel has flatly rejected that earlier finding as well. The new report arrives as the military offensive in Gaza has displaced nearly the entire population and killed more than 74,500 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.