ISRAELI authorities have been accused by a United Nations inquiry of directly enabling and supporting settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, with investigators alleging that state institutions have helped create an environment in which attacks have intensified with little accountability.
The findings, released by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, paint a stark picture of worsening conditions in the West Bank, where violence linked to Israeli settlers has surged since 2023 and, according to the report, increasingly involves the active participation or protection of Israeli security forces.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that investigators concluding that Israeli authorities have facilitated settler attacks through a combination of financial support, military backing and what they described as a climate of impunity fostered by judicial and law-enforcement institutions.
According to the commission, attacks targeting Palestinian communities and agricultural lands have risen by 130 per cent since 2023. The report said many incidents involved organised groups of masked settlers and alleged that Israeli security personnel frequently accompanied them during confrontations.
The inquiry further stated that security forces often acted as a protective shield during attacks, blurring the distinction between state actors and civilian settlers.
“The increasing participation of Israeli security forces in settler attacks amounts to a de facto collapse of the distinction between settlers and soldiers,” the report found.
The commission argued that violence against Palestinians has become intertwined with broader state objectives, including the continued occupation of Palestinian territories, the displacement of local communities and the expansion of Israeli control over contested land.
It alleged that such violence has been used to advance state policy, including the unlawful occupation, displacement of Palestinians and the annexation of Palestinian territory.
The findings add to mounting international concern over the humanitarian and political situation in the West Bank, where hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers live among millions of Palestinians in territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war.
Most countries, as well as the United Nations’ highest judicial body, regard Israeli settlements in the occupied territories as illegal under international law. Israel rejects that interpretation, citing historical, security and biblical claims to the land.
The report also documented alleged abuses against Palestinian children, including cases involving assault, intimidation and abduction.
In one incident highlighted by investigators, a 12-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother were allegedly abducted at knifepoint on 19 April 2025, taken to an olive grove and restrained until family members intervened.
Investigators further alleged that settlers had committed or threatened acts of sexual violence and engaged in harassment aimed at intimidating Palestinian women and communities.
According to United Nations figures cited in the report, at least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 injured in settler-related violence during the previous year, with attacks continuing into 2026 on what investigators described as a near-daily basis.
The report comes less than two years after the International Court of Justice delivered its most comprehensive legal assessment of the occupation to date.
In July 2024, the court issued a non-binding advisory opinion concluding that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and the establishment of settlements there were unlawful and should be brought to an end as quickly as possible.
Israeli authorities have consistently rejected allegations that military personnel routinely shield settlers engaged in attacks against Palestinians. Israel maintains that such incidents are isolated violations of military regulations and are subject to investigation.
However, both Israeli and Palestinian human rights organisations have frequently argued that accountability remains limited and that investigations rarely result in meaningful punishment.
The office of the Israeli Prime Minister and the Israeli military did not immediately comment on the latest findings.
Commission chairman S. Muralidhar, a former senior Indian judge, called for urgent international action to address the situation and halt the expansion of settlements.
“The relentless, daily assaults by Israeli settlers against Palestinians are intolerable — and must end,” he said.
He urged the international community to increase pressure on Israel to dismantle settlements and outposts and to take effective measures to curb the violence that continues to affect Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank. - June 9, 2026
