A comprehensive report from the UN Human Rights office details significant violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) from October 7, 2023, to May 31, 2025. The report covers the period following Hamas-led attacks on Israel and Israel’s subsequent military operations, documenting extensive breaches of international law, including atrocity crimes, war crimes, and potential crimes against humanity by both Israeli and Palestinian parties.
Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights in the OPT, stated that despite a ceasefire agreed upon in October 2025, the consequences of documented violence patterns continue. “The ceasefire diminished the immense scale of violence up that point and opened some modest humanitarian space. 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,” Sunghay said.
The reporting period saw a high number of Palestinian fatalities attributed to Israeli forces, intensified Israeli control over Palestinians and their land, and actions by Palestinian authorities and armed groups, such as indiscriminate rocket fire and hostage-taking.
Deadly Attacks and Devastating Violence Documented
According to the report, Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity through attacks on Israeli civilians starting October 7, 2023, which resulted in at least 1,124 deaths, numerous hostage seizures, and sustained rocket fire into Israel. Released hostages have provided credible accounts of torture, ill-treatment, and sexual violence.
Concurrently, Israel’s military actions in Gaza and the West Bank led to “devastating violence and dispossession,” also constituting war crimes and potential crimes against humanity. The report raises serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, based on its conduct in Gaza.
Blockade, Starvation, and Displacement Concerns
Mr. Sunghay emphasized that Palestinians face severe survival challenges, with hundreds killed since the ceasefire announcement. He reported that Israeli military actions have resulted in the deaths of 72,769 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, 2023, in various locations including homes, shelters, hospitals, schools, and while queuing for aid.
The Israeli blockade on Gaza has led to widespread starvation and famine, with hundreds of deaths confirmed. The report explicitly states that using starvation as a method of warfare against civilians is a war crime, potentially amounting to a crime against humanity or genocide under specific conditions.
Significant displacement in Gaza has raised concerns about ethnic cleansing and forcible transfer. Israeli forces continue to demolish buildings, including homes where bodies of Palestinians remain unretrieved.
Unprecedented Settlement Expansion in the West Bank
In the West Bank, the rate of forcible displacement is described as unprecedented in decades, alongside a significant expansion of Israeli settlements. Mr. Sunghay noted that Israeli military, police, and settlers are increasingly killing Palestinians with impunity, often acting in concert. Since October 7, 2023, 1,096 Palestinians, including a substantial number of children, have been killed in these incidents.
Settler attacks are frequently supported, condoned, or participated in by Israeli security forces. The Israeli government is accused of intensifying the militarization of the settler movement, shielding perpetrators from accountability, and leveraging settler violence to advance its annexation agenda.
The intensity of dispossession in the West Bank is matched by a record rate of settlement expansion, which has grown by 80 percent since the current government took office, with 102 new settlements established in addition to the existing 127.
Furthermore, 33,000 Palestinians displaced from refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams last year remain unable to return to their homes.
Forced Evictions and Discriminatory Practices in East Jerusalem
Israeli authorities are reportedly forcing Palestinians out of their homes in East Jerusalem at alarming rates, transferring properties to settlers or clearing land for settlement projects, including a park and a cable car. The report also documents ongoing torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody, including sexual violence and rape, along with denial of adequate food and medical care.
These discriminatory practices reinforce Israel’s alleged violations of the prohibition of apartheid and racial segregation.
Impunity Fuels Recurrence of Violations
The report concludes that insufficient measures are being taken to halt these violations. The ceasefire has not resulted in meaningful accountability for past violations or a fundamental reckoning with the protracted occupation, identified as an underlying driver of the conflict.
“Impunity 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 stated. He urged countries to take urgent measures under international law to end the Israeli occupation, dismantle settlements, protect civilians, ensure accountability for serious violations by all parties, and uphold Palestinian human rights.
“In a context like this, lack of action is not passivity. It is a license,” he warned.
