UN inquiry finds Israel committed extermination and other crimes against humanity in West Bank

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory has found Israeli authorities and forces committed the crimes against humanity of extermination, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence in the occupied West Bank, plus persecution and war crimes, in a report to the UN General Assembly published on Monday 26 October, OHCHR said (https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/10/israel-has-committed-war-crimes-and-crimes-against-humanity-occupied). The commission does not speak for the UN itself.

It found that, through military operations reinforced by settler violence, Israel has waged a “widespread and systematic attack” against West Bank civilians since 7 October 2023, on nationality, race and ethnicity grounds. Chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said this formed part of a broader strategy to exterminate and displace Palestinians and impose unliveable conditions of life.

On airstrikes: 254 Palestinians were killed by West Bank airstrikes between 7 October 2023 and 30 September 2026, against six between 2008 and 6 October 2023, OHCHR said. Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/26/israel-committing-crimes-against-humanity-in-occupied-west-bank-un) and AFP via the Straits Times (https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/un-probe-accuses-israel-of-extermination-in-west-bank?ref=latest) agree.

Israel rejected the report. Its Geneva mission called it part of the inquiry’s “misinformation campaign to demonise the State of Israel and portray its very existence as criminal”, and demanded the world “repudiate the commission’s findings and demand its immediate dissolution” (https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/un-probe-claims-israel-committing-extermination-in-west-bank-israel-a-demonization-campaign/).

The report came the day before Israel’s general election on 27 October; the commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, presents it to the General Assembly in New York on 26 October. It also criticised Palestinian Authority targeting of dissenters.