A broad-ranging report published today by the UN Human Rights Office outlines the suffocating impact of Israel’s laws, policies and practices on every area of life for Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. The report states that Israel is in violation of international law that obliges States to prevent and eradicate racial segregation and apartheid.
#WestBank: @UNHumanRights report documents decades of severe racial discrimination by #Israel against Palestinians living in the occupied territories. Warns that Israel is violating intl law requiring States to prohibit & eradicate racial segregation & apartheid.
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) January 7, 2026
Report finds… pic.twitter.com/fbzxtoQ0Fu
Has the situation for Palestinians worsened recently?
The report states that the systemic discrimination of the Palestinian people within the area of the Occupied Palestinian Territory has long been an area of concern, but it has deteriorated drastically since at least December of 2022. The report highlights many examples of how life has become restricted and insecure for the Palestinian people.
How does Israel’s legal system discriminate against Palestinians?
“Israeli authorities treat Israeli settlers and Palestinians residing in the West Bank under two distinct bodies of law and policies, resulting in unequal treatment on a range of critical issues, including movement and access to resources such as land and water,” the report finds.
“Palestinians continue to be subjected to large-scale confiscation of land and deprivation of access to resources. This has had the effect of dispossessing them of their lands and homes, alongside other forms of systemic discrimination, including criminal prosecution in military courts during which their due process and fair trial rights are systematically violated.”
Is the separation and subordination of Palestinians intentional?
The report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe the separation, segregation, and subordination are intended to be permanent, to maintain oppression and domination of Palestinians.
“Acts committed with the intention to maintain such a policy amount to a violation of Article 3 of ICERD (the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination), which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid,” it finds.
How has violence escalated since October 2023?
“Since 7 October 2023, the Government of Israel further expanded the use of unlawful force, arbitrary detention and torture, repression of civil society and undue restrictions on media freedoms, severe movement restrictions, settlement expansion and related violations in the occupied West Bank, which has marked an unprecedented deterioration of the human rights situation there,”
it states, adding that this is compounded by the continuation and escalation of settler violence, in many cases with the acquiescence, support, and participation of Israeli security forces (ISF).
Why is the military legal system a tool of control?
Regarding the military justice system against Palestinians, it offers little if any human rights protection relative to the human rights protection afforded to settlers by the Israeli Civil Law system.
“The military legal system is a significant tool in controlling Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.”
Are Palestinians being deliberately targeted by lethal force?
The report further records trends regarding unlawful killings and State or settler violence and provides examples regarding the use of deadly force with the intention to kill when there was no necessity for its use against Palestinians.
For instance, on 28 January 2025, ISF shot a 10-year-old boy, Saddam Hussein Rajab, in the abdomen; he died from his injuries on 7 February 2025. A video recording shows that he was shot while standing at the doorstep of a building in Tulkarem with his hands empty. ISF initially claimed that the boy “was messing with the ground in a suspicious way” and then issued an announcement of a probe into the killing.
On the 9th February 2025, ISF shot eight-month pregnant Sondos Shalabi, who was 23 years old at the time, killing her. They later explained that she was shot because “she was looking suspiciously at the ground.” They also admitted that the woman was unarmed and that no IEDs were found near her.
How do movement restrictions affect Palestinians’ rights and livelihoods?
The discriminatory movement restrictions also contribute negatively to the enjoyment of human rights, violating the right to work and depriving Palestinians of access to their lands, which exacerbates major financial burdens, the report adds.
In addition, new roads – for the use of Israeli settlers only – were built to connect settlements to each other, effectively severing Palestinian communities from each other. Thousands of Palestinians have also been forcibly displaced from their homes throughout the West Bank, which may constitute the war crime of unlawful transfer.
Are Palestinians being denied access to basic natural resources?
The natural resources are also denied to Palestinians, according to the report. An example is that it reports how Israeli forces illegally seize, dismantle, and allocate water meant for Palestinians to Israeli settlers. This forces the Palestinian Authority to purchase water in large quantities from a company owned by the Israeli government that harvests water from the occupied West Bank.
What is the UN Human Rights Chief’s assessment of this situation?
“There is a systematic asphyxiation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank,” UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said. “Whether accessing water, school, rushing to hospital, visiting family or friends, or harvesting olives – every aspect of life for Palestinians in the West Bank is controlled and curtailed by Israel’s discriminatory laws, policies and practices.”
“This is a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation, that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before.” “Every negative trend documented in the report has not only continued but accelerated. And every day this is allowed to continue, the consequences worsen for Palestinians.”
Why does impunity prevail in the West Bank?
Impunity is the culture in cases of human rights abuses, such as violence by Israeli security forces, as well as violence perpetuated by Israeli settlers. According to the report, in the over 1,500 Palestinian killings between 1 January 2017, and 30 September 2025, only one case resulted in a conviction after 112 investigations by the Israeli government.
Thousands of Palestinians continue to be arbitrarily detained by the Israeli government, in large part under so-called “administrative detention.
How has illegal settlement expansion worsened Palestinian dispossession?
There is continued growth of the illegal settlement. Israeli authorities and the illegal setters have occupied tens of thousands of hectares of the Palestinians’ land, most of which is used for the construction of Israeli settlements and outposts, contrary to international law. In recent times, the security cabinet of the Israeli state approved the construction of 19 settlements to prevent the formation of the state of Palestine.
What actions does the UN recommend Israel take?
“The Israeli authorities must repeal all laws, policies and practices that perpetuate systemic discrimination against Palestinians based on race, religion or ethnic origin,” Türk said. He called on the Israeli authorities to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including by dismantling all settlements and evacuating all settlers, and to respect the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.