A UN report accuses Israel of protecting settlers who have carried out attacks against Palestinians.

A United Nations investigation alleges that Israeli authorities are directly implicated in violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The report, published Tuesday in Geneva, maintains that Israeli security forces routinely protect settlers during attacks that have resulted in deaths, injuries, and population displacement.

The UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories concluded that Israeli authorities facilitated this violence through financial and military support, in a context of impunity maintained, it said, by police and judicial institutions. The report also documents war crimes attributed to Hamas against Palestinians and Israelis.

According to investigators, settler attacks on Palestinian villages and farmland have increased sharply since 2023, with an estimated rise of 130%. The report describes incidents involving masked groups and states that Israeli security forces frequently accompany settlers on these operations, sometimes acting as a form of protection.

Israel rejected these findings. The Israeli mission to the United Nations in Geneva accused the commission of creating a "false moral equivalence" between the actions of Hamas and those of Israeli civilians. It also asserted that the report was based on insufficiently substantiated accusations and reiterated that the highest authorities in the country have repeatedly condemned violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli army stated that its mission was to ensure security and conduct counterterrorism operations. It asserted that it condemned all forms of violence and indicated that alleged inappropriate behavior by soldiers was subject to internal investigations. However, Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations believe that these procedures rarely lead to sanctions.

The report highlights that several hundred thousand Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank among millions of Palestinians. The majority of the international community considers these settlements to be contrary to international law, a position reinforced by a 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. Israel disputes this interpretation, citing, among other things, historical and religious ties to these territories.

UN investigators have also documented several cases of attacks, abductions, and ill-treatment targeting Palestinian children. They believe this violence contributes to forced displacement and is part of a broader pattern of tensions and clashes that continue to worsen the situation in the occupied West Bank.