19 March 2026, GENEVA – UN experts* today condemned Israel’s accelerating campaign of ethnic cleansing and annexation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, marked by the forced displacement of Palestinians and escalating violence by Israeli security forces and settlers terrorising Palestinian communities.
“Against the backdrop of the US-Israel aggression of Iran and Lebanon, Israel is escalating ethnic cleansing and full annexation of the West Bank,” the experts said.
“Since 28 February, most road gates of the West Bank have been closed by occupation forces, obstructing access to workplaces, schools, health services and aid, isolating communities even from ambulances and fire brigades.”
“Entrapped and out of reach, entire communities live in fear of settler terrorism rampaging across the West Bank day and night,” they warned. “Thousands of Palestinian families have been forced to flee their homes because of escalating settler attacks, and the destruction of essential infrastructure, especially in the Jordan valley, some of them displaced months earlier from other communities.”
The experts are also alarmed by reports of sexual abuse of Palestinian men, women and children by settlers.
They said the settlers were being galvanised by hate speech from high level government officials and rampant impunity for brazen attacks that kill and injure Palestinians, including children and older persons.
Settlers have targeted Palestinian homes, vehicles and livestock, vandalised harvests, olive trees and critical water, sanitation and hygiene facilities and infrastructure. Sheep have been killed or stolen from pasturelands.
The experts said the mobs have beaten and threatened everyone, including Israeli volunteers, trying to protect Palestinian villages and families.
Between 3 and 16 February, at least 86 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians took place across 60 communities. On 3 March, armed settler groups and Israeli military forces raided the village of Qaryut, in Nablus District, killed two Palestinians and injured others. Ambulances were unable to reach and evacuate the injured for over an hour because of Israel’s closures.
“This is an example of coordinated implementation of Israel’s annexation and ethnic cleansing policy by occupation forces and settlers: these two are birds of a feather,” the experts said.
Recent reports revealing that arms and vehicles have been provided to these groups corroborate evidence that Israeli authorities rely on illegal settlers to “do the groundwork” of the ethnic cleansing.
The experts denounced statements by Israeli Minister of national security Ben Gvir, who claimed that “Jews are above the law in the West Bank” while granting firearm licenses to settlers in occupied East Jerusalem.
“Only a few weeks ago, we denounced the Israeli Government’s plan to further dispossess and displace Palestinian communities, expand and promote the creation of new illegal settlements, and register Palestinian land as Israel’s property,” the experts said.
“We called on States to bring the unlawful occupation to an end, in compliance with the International Court of Justice 2024 Advisory Opinion and General Assembly Resolution ES 10/24. Tragically, States have failed to stop Israel’s crimes, emboldening its impunity and giving it carte blanche to continue its atrocities against Palestinians,” they said.
*The experts:
- Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967
- Michelle Small, Chair of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination
- Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
- Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context
- Ashwini K.P., the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
- Nicolas Levrat, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues
- Astrid Puentes Riaño, the Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment
- Paula Gaviria, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
- Michael Fakhri, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Reem Alsalem, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences
- Carlos Arturo Duarte Torres Chair of the Working Group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas
- Farida Shaheed, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Tlaleng Mofokeng, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Surya Deva, the Special Rapporteur on the right to development
- Irene Khan, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
- George Katrougalos, Independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order
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