Palestine: Killings, destruction and settler encroachment continues

while forced displacement in the occupied West Bank has reached a rate “unseen in decades”, a senior official with the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Monday in Geneva.

Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), launched its latest report which covers the period between 7 October 2023 and 31 May 2025 following Hamas-led attacks on Israel and Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza.

It documents large-scale violations of international law, including atrocity crimes, and points to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity committed by Israeli and Palestinian parties.

Lasting consequences

“One year later, despite the ceasefire concluded in October 2025, the lasting consequences of the patterns we documented are apparent,” said Mr. Sunghay.

“The ceasefire diminished the immense scale of violence up that point and opened some modest humanitarian space. But killings and the destruction of infrastructure have continued on an almost daily basis, and the overall humanitarian situation remains dire. All while Hamas continues its own violations, including against the people of Gaza.”

The reporting period saw unprecedented levels of killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces, the tightening and escalation of Israeli control over Palestinians and their land, and “concerning conduct” by Palestinian authorities and armed groups such as indiscriminate rocket fire against Israel and the taking of hostages.

Deadly attacks, devastating violence

Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity when they attacked civilians in Israel on and after 7 October 2023, killed at least 1,124 people, seized hostages and fired thousands of unguided missiles into Israeli territory for over a year.

“Released hostages have provided credible accounts of torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence,” said Mr. Sunghay.

Meanwhile, “Israel unleashed devastating violence and dispossession in Gaza and the West Bank, committing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity,” he said.

He noted that the report found that the totality of Israeli conduct in Gaza raises serious concern about the country’s compliance with its obligation to prevent acts within the scope of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. 

Blockade, starvation and displacement

“The fact remains that Palestinians have no means to ensure their survival or to protect their loved ones, with hundreds killed since the announcement of a ceasefire,” Mr. Sunghay said.

“The Israeli military has killed 72,769 Palestinians since 7 October 2023 in Gaza: in their homes, in IDP shelters, in hospitals, in schools, in places of worship, on the streets, while queuing for aid, while trying to fish in the sea.”

Moreover, “the Israeli blockade on Gaza resulted in starvation and famine that was foretold and later confirmed,” and hundreds died.  He stressed that “any use of starvation as a method of war against civilians is a war crime, and it may amount to a crime against humanity and even genocide in certain conditions.”

Mr. Sunghay also addressed displacement in Gaza which has raised concerns about ethnic cleansing and forcible transfer. People have fled neighbourhoods which are now gone “as Israeli forces continue to unlawfully demolish buildings across Gaza – homes still laden with thousands of unretrieved Palestinian bodies.”

‘Unprecedented’ settlement expansion

Regarding the West Bank, he said that the rate of forcible displacement “is unseen in decades”, describing Israeli settlement expansion there as “unprecedented”.

“Israeli military and police forces and settlers are killing more and more Palestinians with impunity, often together,” he added. Since the 7 October attacks, they have killed 1,096 Palestinians, with children making up around 20 per cent, or one in five.

“Settler attacks are routinely carried out with the support, acquiescence, or participation of Israeli security forces,” he said.

“The Israeli Government has intensified the militarisation of the settler movement, shielded them from accountability, and now actively benefits from settler violence as a catalyst for its stated annexation agenda.”

Mr. Sunghay said the dispossession in the West Bank is “matched in intensity with the record rate of settlement expansion” which has increased by 80 per cent since the Government took office, with 102 new settlements added to the 127 that existed previously.  

Unable to return home

Furthermore, 33,000 Palestinians displaced from three refugee camps last year – Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams – are still unable to return to their homes. 

“Israeli authorities are forcing Palestinians out of their homes around the Old City in East Jerusalem at alarming levels, turning their properties over to settlers, or making room for settlement projects including a park and a cable car project,” he said.

The report also documented other patterns that have persisted, including the torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody, which includes sexual violence and even rape, denial of sufficient food and medical care.

“Discriminatory practices have further reinforced Israel’s violation of the prohibition of apartheid and racial segregation,” he said.

‘Impunity fuels recurrence’

He noted that overall, not enough is being done to stop these violations.

“The ceasefire has not led to any forms of meaningful accountability for the violations committed in the preceding years. Nor has it led to any fundamental reckoning with the underlying driver – the protracted occupation,” he said.

“Impunity fuels recurrence. Most of the horrors documented here, and those documented for decades before, have gone unpunished, with no prospect of justice for the victims.”

Mr. Sunghay stressed that in addition to expressing condemnation, countries must urgently take every measure in line with international law to end the Israeli occupation, ensure the dismantlement of existing settlements, protect civilians, achieve accountability for serious violations by all parties, and ensure Palestinians are able to exercise their human rights.

“In a context like this, lack of action is not passivity. It is a license,” he said.