▲ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
A UN report has indicated that the Israeli government committed crimes aimed at destroying Palestinians in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory.
In a report released on Sunday, one day ahead of Israel's general election, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry stated, "Israeli authorities and forces have committed crimes against humanity, including extermination, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and have also perpetrated persecution based on intersecting discriminatory grounds such as nationality, race, and ethnicity."
Extermination is a type of crime against humanity under international law, which includes acts such as mass killings of a civilian population or the imposition of living conditions intended to bring about the destruction of part of a population.
In the report, the commission concluded that Israel carried out widespread and systematic attacks against civilians in the West Bank through military operations and ongoing violence by Jewish settlers.
In particular, it assessed that Israeli authorities sought to impose "collective punishment" on civilians in the West Bank following the October 2023 attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The commission emphasized, "The targeting of Palestinian civilians in various parts of the West Bank demonstrates a high level of coordination and systematic planning, which is the product of state policy."
It added, "Israeli authorities intended for, and were aware that, settler violence would form part of a widespread and systematic attack."
The commission stated that it verified instances where Israeli forces acted with the intent to severely injure or kill civilians, determining that such acts amount to war crimes, including willful killing.
Srinivasan Muralidar, an Indian-born member of the commission, pointed out, "Israel's ongoing denial of responsibility while intentionally killing and injuring Palestinian civilians and destroying homes in the West Bank is part of a broader strategy to exterminate and forcibly displace Palestinians."
This means Israel is intentionally attacking civilians in the West Bank to create living environments where Palestinians can no longer survive, thereby seeking to forcibly displace them.
He added, "Attempts to equate the establishment of a Palestinian state with a threat to Israel's existence obstruct all viable attempts to realize the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination."
The West Bank is a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel during the 1967 Third Middle East War, currently inhabited by Palestinian residents and Israeli settlers.
Particularly since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers has surged in the West Bank.
The commission also pointed out that Israel's "genocide" is continuing in the Gaza Strip as well.
In a previous report released in September of last year, the commission concluded that Israel had committed genocide in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 74,200 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli military operations since the outbreak of the war in October 2023.
The UN considers the casualty statistics announced by the Gaza Ministry of Health to be reliable.
The commission stated, "The cases investigated for this report show that Israeli authorities and forces continue to commit genocidal acts with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."
The commission urged Israel to halt the genocide in the Gaza Strip and immediately fulfill its obligations under international law to prevent and punish genocide and incitement to it.
It also demanded the withdrawal of all settlers and settlements and an immediate end to the "illegal occupation" of Palestinian territories.
Meanwhile, the commission also pointed out human rights violations by the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The commission stated, "The Palestinian authorities have targeted members of rival Palestinian armed groups, and continue to target them while suppressing civil society and political opposition."
In particular, it noted that the Palestinian Authority is experiencing a crisis of credibility and legitimacy, and that deaths have occurred during its suppression of Palestinians expressing dissenting views.
It also criticized the Palestinian Authority for failing to conduct prompt, effective, and impartial investigations into murder cases.
The Palestinian Authority did not immediately issue a position on these investigative findings.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Permanent Observer to the UN, urged during the presentation of the report at the UN General Assembly in New York, "Governments must move beyond issuing statements and take concrete measures to protect the Palestinian people."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry dismissed the commission's findings, denouncing the report as "a detachment from reality and propaganda document aimed at undermining Israel's right to self-defense and justifying jihadist terrorism."
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry is a three-member investigative body established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021. While operating under a UN mandate, its findings do not represent the official position of the UN as a whole.
Navi Pillay, a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from South Africa who served as chair of the commission until November 2025, won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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