UN probe says Palestinians are trapped between Israeli forces, settlers and Hamas

A United Nations commission has said Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are being trapped between Israeli forces, settlers and Hamas rule. The report says civilians are facing severe and systematic rights violations across the territory. It also says the situation has worsened since the Gaza war began after Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

Sponsored

The findings come from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021. The commission said Israeli authorities have enabled settler attacks through financial and military support. Its chair, Srinivasan Muralidhar, said violence by settlers was the direct outcome of Israeli policies that support, enable and protect their actions.

The report is due to be presented to the rights council soon. In Gaza, the commission said ordinary Palestinians are caught between what it described as the structural violence and mass atrocities of Israeli forces and the fear-based rule of Hamas. It said Hamas-affiliated forces have exploited the vacuum created by Israeli attacks and widespread destruction.

The report also said civilians are being violently repressed and controlled by the faction that claims to govern them. Families of Palestinians believed to be trapped under collapsed buildings are still seeking to bury their dead. The report matters because it places the conduct of multiple actors under scrutiny at a time when the war has already devastated Gaza and intensified pressure in the West Bank.

Sponsored

It frames the crisis not only as a battlefield conflict, but also as a human rights emergency affecting civilians under occupation and under Hamas rule. The commission said Palestinians in both areas are being systematically and deliberately subjected to severe rights violations. The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since 1967, and the commission said violence there has increased sharply since the Gaza war began.

It said Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,080 Palestinians in the territory, although the supplied material does not give a full breakdown of the period covered by that figure. The report also says settler violence is linked to policies that have supported and protected such attacks. That places renewed attention on the role of Israeli authorities, settlers and armed groups in shaping conditions on the ground.

What remains unclear from the supplied material is the full time span covered by the report and the detailed evidence behind each allegation. The commission's findings are expected to be formally presented to the UN rights council, which may prompt further diplomatic and legal scrutiny. It is also not clear what immediate response, if any, will follow from Israeli authorities or Hamas.

#UnitedNations #GazaStrip #WestBank #Hamas #Israel

Sponsored