UN report: Israel’s actions raise ‘ethnic cleansing concerns’ in Gaza, West Bank
Palestinian women refill canisters with water in Gaza City, January 2026
Nir Hasson and Reuters report in Haaretz on 19 February 2026:
A report published on Thursday by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights raises suspicions that Israel has carried out ethnic cleansing and apartheid crimes in the West Bank, as well as deliberate starvation and crimes that could amount to genocide in Gaza, as well as in the West Bank.
The 17-page report by the UN Human Rights Office, which investigated the conduct of Israel and Palestinian armed groups from November 2024 to October 31, 2025, concludes that both sides committed war crimes and other violations of international law.
The report concludes that Hamas’ holding of Israeli hostages and abuse of them constituted war crimes and additional offense.
The report found that intensified Israeli attacks and the forcible transfer of Palestinians appeared aimed at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza, “raising concerns over ethnic cleansing.”
The report says Israel is committing multiple crimes under international law in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including unlawful use of force, arbitrary arrests, abuse, widespread home demolitions, repression and discrimination.
The report also cites violence by settlers against Palestinians that is not met with punishment. Some of these actions, the report notes, are considered prohibited under the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.
Israel’s permanent mission in Geneva dismissed the report’s findings about Israel’s actions and said in a statement that the UN human rights office had lost its credibility. “Office of the High Commissioner is engaged in a vicious campaign of demonization and disinformation against the State of Israel,” it said.
Ethnic cleansing concerns
A U.S.-brokered cease-fire went into force last October after two years of war that damaged buildings across Gaza, displaced most of its residents and led to a humanitarian crisis. Israel still holds over half the enclave.
Israel’s actions had imposed “conditions of life increasingly incompatible with Palestinians’ continued existence as a group in Gaza”, the report said. Famine was also found in some parts of Gaza last August by a global hunger monitor, and malnutrition resulted directly from Israel’s actions, the report said.
Militarized distribution centres run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) backed by Israel and the United States “failed utterly” to deliver humanitarian aid at the scale required, violating Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law, it said.
Israeli practices in Gaza and the occupied West Bank indicated an accelerating effort to consolidate the annexation of large parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, with unlawful use of force by Israeli security forces, the report said.
“During the reporting period, intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighbourhoods and the denial of humanitarian assistance appeared to aim at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza,” it said. “This, together with forcible transfers, which appear to aim at a permanent displacement, raises concerns over ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank.”
Concerns about Hamas’ actions
The report found that the killing last June of 12 Palestinian staff associated with the GHF by armed men, including possible summary executions, may amount to war crimes by Hamas. Hamas has declined to comment on the shootings.
The report raised concerns about the use of civilians as human shields to prevent Israeli attacks, something Hamas has denied doing, and outlined unnecessary or disproportionate use of force by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
The holding of and mistreatment of hostages taken in the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023 may amount to war crimes and potentially other atrocity crimes, the report said. It cited allegations of torture, beating and deprivation of food.
“There must also be accountability for serious violations of international law, including possible international crimes, by Hamas and its armed wing, Al Qassam Brigades, as well as other Palestinian armed groups,” it said.
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