UN panel cites 1,143 deaths in West Bank findings

United Nations investigators determined that Israeli authorities committed the crime of extermination in the occupied West Bank. The three-member Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory issued this finding on Monday. The report covers actions taken by Israeli and Palestinian security forces since October 2023. It also identifies torture, rape, and other sexual violence as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The commission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021. In September 2025, the group first concluded that Israel committed genocide in Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Israel has rejected that earlier finding. The current report focuses on the deterioration of conditions in the West Bank since that date. It states that Israeli military operations, combined with settler violence, amount to a widespread and systematic attack on civilians.

The panel found that Israeli authorities intended to collectively punish West Bank residents because of the Hamas attack. The report specifies that persecution was based on discriminatory grounds of nationality, race, and ethnicity. The findings were released one day before Israel holds its general election. Israeli forces were concurrently conducting a clampdown in Hebron, which included expulsions and demolitions, after a gun attack occurred in the area the previous week.

Israel’s mission in Geneva responded to the report by calling it part of a misinformation campaign. The mission stated the inquiry aims to demonize the state and portray its existence as criminal. It urged the international community to reject the findings and demand the immediate dissolution of the commission. Former South African High Court judge Navi Pillay chaired the investigation until November 2025. She won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month.

The data in the report relies on figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Between October 7, 2023, and October 9, 2026, 1,143 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. At least 250 of those killed were children. Gaza’s Health Ministry separately reports that more than 74,500 people have died in the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. That offensive has displaced nearly the entire population of the territory.

The commission does not speak for the UN itself. Its mandate allows it to investigate both Israeli and Palestinian security forces. The report documents bodily and mental harm caused during the period in question. The timing of the release coincides with active military operations in Hebron. The general election is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.