A UN-mandated inquiry has said Palestinian civilians are being caught between “mass atrocities” carried out by Israeli forces, Israeli settlers, and Hamas’s internal rule.
The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry stated on Tuesday that civilians across Gaza and the occupied West Bank are being “systematically and deliberately” subjected to severe human rights violations.
The investigative body, which previously concluded that Israel had committed “genocide” in the Gaza war, said civilians in the territory are also facing repression from the very faction that governs them.
According to the report, Palestinians in Gaza are “trapped between the structural violence and mass atrocities of Israeli forces and the predatory, fear-based rule of Hamas.”
In the West Bank, where violence has escalated since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the commission documented increasing attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians.
Commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said settler violence is enabled by state policy.
“Violence by settlers is the direct outcome of Israeli policies that support, enable and protect their actions,” he said.
He further stated that Hamas-affiliated forces have taken advantage of the destruction and instability in Gaza, exploiting what he described as a governance vacuum created by the conflict.
“What is alarmingly similar is the deliberate infliction of suffering on Palestinian civilians,” Muralidhar said. “While their origins and motivations differ, both operate within environments engineered by Israel.”
The three-member commission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The latest report focused heavily on the West Bank, which has been under Israeli occupation since 1967.
According to data cited in the report, at least 1,080 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023, based on Palestinian health ministry figures. Israeli official figures report at least 46 Israelis killed in the same period.
The inquiry also found that between January 2023 and December 2025, at least 26 Palestinians were killed and 1,570 injured in attacks involving Israeli settlers.
It noted that such incidents continue into 2026, with near-daily reports of violence.
The commission concluded that Israel bears responsibility for enabling settler activity, stating that it contributes to “entrenchment of Israeli settlements, annexation of Palestinian territory and displacement of Palestinians.”
It called on Israel to end violence, halt settlement expansion, and remove existing settlements in occupied territory.
Israel has previously rejected the commission’s findings, accusing it of bias.
The report also addressed abuses linked to Hamas-affiliated forces, including alleged war crimes such as murder and torture in Gaza.
The commission documented 249 cases of executions and severe physical violence between 2024 and 2025, resulting in at least 108 deaths and 384 injuries.
It said Hamas-linked forces were involved in at least 60 of those incidents, including alleged torture of civilians in medical facilities.
However, the commission stressed that the misuse of civilian areas does not remove their protection under international humanitarian law.
It recommended that authorities in Gaza end extrajudicial punishments, including executions and torture, and avoid using civilian infrastructure such as hospitals for non-humanitarian purposes.
The report is expected to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.
