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Edited News | OHCHR
UN report on Occupied Palestinian territory large scale violations of international law including atrocity crimes
Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights office in the occupied Palestinian territory, presented the report at a press conference at the headquarters of the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva.
“One year later, despite the ceasefire concluded in October 2025, the lasting consequences of the patterns we documented are apparent. The ceasefire diminished the immense scale of violence up to that point, and opened some modest humanitarian space,” he told reporters. “But killings and the destruction of infrastructure have continued on an almost daily basis, and the overall humanitarian situation remains dire. All while Hamas continues its own violations, including against the people of Gaza.”
“In the West Bank, the rate of forcible displacement of Palestinians is unseen in decades and Israeli settlement expansion is unprecedented. Israeli military and police forces and settlers are killing more and more Palestinians with impunity, often together,” Sunghay said.
The report points to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by Israeli and Palestinian duty bearers.
“On and after 7 October 2023, Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity when they horrifically attacked civilians in Israel, killed at least 1,124, took and kept hostages, and fired thousands of unguided missiles into Israel for over a year. Released hostages have provided credible accounts of torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence,” he said.
The Israeli military has killed 72,769 Palestinians since 7 October 2023 in Gaza, according to the health ministry in Gaza. These people were killed in their homes, in shelters for displaced people, in hospitals, in schools, in places of worship, on the streets, while queuing for aid, or while trying to fish in the sea.
The report states that Palestinians have no means to ensure their survival or to protect their loved ones, with hundreds killed since the announcement of a ceasefire.
During the reporting period, the Israeli blockade on Gaza resulted in starvation and famine that was foretold and later confirmed. Hundreds starved to death, including children. Any use of starvation as a method of war against civilians is a war crime, and it may amount to a crime against humanity and even genocide in certain conditions.
“Displaced Palestinians have scant prospects of return, raising concerns about ethnic cleansing and forcible transfer. In Gaza, the neighbourhoods they fled are gone as Israeli forces continue to unlawfully demolish buildings across Gaza— homes still laden with thousands of unretrieved Palestinian bodies,” said Sunghay.
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces and settlers have killed 1,096 Palestinians since 7 October 2023, one in five of them children. Many incidents raise concerns about unlawful killings and extrajudicial executions.
“Settler attacks are routinely carried out with the support, acquiescence, or participation of Israeli security forces. The Israeli government has intensified the militarisation of the settler movement, shielded them from accountability, and now actively benefits from settler violence as a catalyst for its stated annexation agenda,”Sunghay said.
Since this government took office, settlements increased by 80%, adding 102 settlements to the 127 that existed previously.
The 33,000 Palestinians displaced from Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps in 2025 remain unable to return to their homes.
Israeli authorities are forcing Palestinians out of their homes around the Old City in East Jerusalem at alarming levels, turning their properties over to settlers, or making room for settlement projects including a park and a cable car project.
Settler violence has become a key driver of displacement, so far displacing 45 entire Palestinian communities since October 2023. The report documents more patterns that have alarmingly persisted.
“Torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody is all too routine, including sexual violence, even cases of rape. as well as denial of sufficient sustenance and medical care. And discriminatory practices have further reinforced Israel’s violation of the prohibition of apartheid and racial segregation,” Sunghay said.
“And why does it all seem so endless?” he asked. “Because not enough is being done to stop it. The ceasefire has not led to any forms of meaningful accountability for the violations committed in the preceding years. Nor has it led to any fundamental reckoning with the underlying driver – the protracted occupation. Impunity only fuels recurrence. Most of the horrors documented here, and those documented for decades before, have gone unpunished, with no prospect of justice for the victims.”
Sunghay called on third States to urgently take every measure at their disposal and in conformity with international law to end the Israeli occupation, ensure the dismantlement of existing settlements, protect civilians, achieve accountability for serious violations by all parties, and ensure Palestinians are able to exercise their human rights.
For more information and media requests, please contact:
In Geneva
Ravina Shamdasani - ravina.shamdasani@un.org
Shabia Mantoo - shabia.mantoo@un.org
Thameen Al-Kheetan - thameen.alkheetan@un.org
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STORY: UN report on occupied Palestinian territory: large-scale violations of international law including atrocity crimes
TRT: 04:23
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 18 May 2026, Geneva, Switzerland
SHOTLIST
- Exterior shots: Palais Wilson - Headquarters of Human Rights in Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory: “One year later, despite the ceasefire concluded in October 2025, the lasting consequences of the patterns we documented are apparent. The ceasefire diminished the immense scale of violence up to that point and opened some modest humanitarian space.”
- Cutaway: Press conference room (Salon des Dames)
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory: “But killings and the destruction of infrastructure have continued on an almost daily basis, and the overall humanitarian situation remains dire. All while Hamas continues its own violations, including against the people of Gaza.”
- Cutaway: Press conference room (Salon des Dames)
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory: “In the West Bank, the rate of forcible displacement of Palestinians is unseen in decades and Israeli settlement expansion is unprecedented. Israeli military and police forces and settlers are killing more and more Palestinians with impunity, often together.”
- Cutaway: Press conference room (Salon des Dames)
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory: “On and after 7 October 2023, Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity when they horrifically attacked civilians in Israel, killed at least 1,124, took and kept hostages, and fired thousands of unguided missiles into Israel for over a year. Released hostages have provided credible accounts of torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence.”
- Cutaway: Press conference room (Salon des Dames)
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory: “Displaced Palestinians have scant prospects of return, raising concerns about ethnic cleansing and forcible transfer. In Gaza, the neighbourhoods they fled are gone as Israeli forces continue to unlawfully demolish buildings across Gaza— homes still laden with thousands of unretrieved Palestinian bodies.”
- Cutaway: Press conference room (Salon des Dames)
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory: “Settler attacks are routinely carried out with the support, acquiescence, or participation of Israeli security forces. The Israeli Government has intensified the militarisation of the settler movement, shielded them from accountability, and now actively benefits from settler violence as a catalyst for its stated annexation agenda.”
- Cutaway: Press conference room (Salon des Dames)
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: “Torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody is all too routine, including sexual violence, even cases of rape, as well as denial of sufficient sustenance and medical care. And discriminatory practices have further reinforced Israel’s violation of the prohibition of apartheid and racial segregation.”
- Cutaway: Press conference room (Salon des Dames)
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: “And why does it all seem so endless? Because not enough is being done to stop it. The ceasefire has not led to any forms of meaningful accountability for the violations committed in the preceding years. Nor has it led to any fundamental reckoning with the underlying driver – the protracted occupation. Impunity only fuels recurrence. Most of the horrors documented here, and those documented for decades before, have gone unpunished, with no prospect of justice for the victims.”
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