Published On 10/6/2026
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Last update: 00:33 (Mecca time)
A United Nations investigation committee said on Tuesday that the Israeli authorities were directly involved in settler attacks that led to the killing, injury and displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli security forces provided protection for the settlers.
The Commission of Inquiry for the Occupied Palestinian Territory concluded in a report that the Israeli authorities enabled settlers, through financial and military support, to attack Palestinians, in a climate of impunity reinforced by judicial bodies and law enforcement agencies.
The committee indicated in the report that attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural lands had escalated since 2023 and increased by 130%, and included incidents in which groups of masked attackers participated, stressing that Israeli security forces usually accompanied the settlers and worked to protect them while they practiced violence.
The Israeli mission in Geneva rejected the findings of the report, and accused the committee of “wrongly equating” Hamas fighters with Israeli civilians, and of relying on what it described as baseless allegations.
The Israeli army said that its mission is to maintain security and carry out counter-terrorism operations, and that it denounces “any form of violence that undermines security” and subjects any misconduct allegedly committed by Israeli soldiers to careful review.
Almost daily attacks
The United Nations said at least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 others injured last year, with violence continuing in 2026 with almost daily attacks.
The committee concluded in the report that “the increased participation of Israeli security forces in settler attacks means an effective collapse of the distinction between settlers and soldiers.”
She added that such violence was used to advance state policy, including illegal occupation, displacement of Palestinians and annexation of Palestinian lands.
The committee documented cases of assault, kidnapping, and ill-treatment carried out by settlers against Palestinian children.
In an incident that occurred on April 19, 2025, a 12-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother were kidnapped at gunpoint. They were taken to an olive grove and tied to a tree with plastic restraints until their family intervened.
“It is intolerable and must end.”
Committee Chairman S. Muralidhar, a former senior Indian judge, said: “The continuing daily attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians are intolerable and must end.” He urged the international community to put pressure on Israel to dismantle settlements and outposts and curb violence.
Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters that the report “reflects the extent of the violence practiced by settlers against our people with the support and participation of the occupation army.”
He added, “The Israeli government not only armed tens of thousands of settlers with modern weapons, but also had the army and police forces assist them and provide them with protection, which led to the martyrdom of a number of Palestinians.”
He called for a response to this with measures, saying, “It is good for there to be a report on these attacks, but what is more important is for there to be accountability and the imposition of sanctions, whether through the International Criminal Court or the international community.”
In the same context, 6 Western countries announced – today, Tuesday – the imposition of sanctions on Israeli settlers and settlement entities, in addition to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, against the backdrop of what the countries described as the “horrific violence” they are practicing against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, while Israel announced its categorical rejection of what it described as “heinous measures.”
The foreign ministers of France, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway announced the imposition of sanctions on extremist settlers, and France banned the entry of Smotrich, along with 4 leaders of settlement organizations, and 21 settlers from the West Bank.
About 750,000 Israeli settlers reside in 141 settlements and 224 settlement outposts in the West Bank, including 250,000 in 15 settlements in East Jerusalem, and they commit daily attacks against Palestinians with the aim of forcibly displacing them.
