GENEVA, Switzerland: The United Nations has raised concerns that Israel’s intensified attacks and forcible transfers of Palestinians could constitute “ethnic cleansing” in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The UN human rights office said Thursday that the cumulative impact of Israel’s military conduct during the Gaza conflict, coupled with the ongoing blockade of the territory, has created living conditions “increasingly incompatible with Palestinians’ continued existence as a group in Gaza.”
The office’s report, covering the period from November 1, 2024, to October 31, 2025, noted that the “intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighbourhoods, and the denial of humanitarian assistance” appear to aim at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza, according to AFP.
“This, together with forcible transfers, which appear to aim at permanent displacement, raise concerns over ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank,” it said.
In the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem, the report documented the “systematic use of unlawful force” by Israeli security forces, widespread arbitrary detention, and “extensive unlawful demolition” of Palestinian homes.
These actions are carried out to “systematically discriminate, oppress, control and dominate the Palestinian people,” the report said.
The report warned that such violations are “altering the character, status and demographic composition of the occupied West Bank, raising serious concerns of ethnic cleansing.”
Inhumane conditions in Gaza
The UN report condemned the continued killing and maiming of civilians, the spread of famine, and the destruction of remaining civilian infrastructure in Gaza.
During the 12-month reporting period, at least 463 Palestinians, including 157 children, starved to death. “Palestinians faced the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risking being killed while trying to get food,” the report stated.
“The situation of famine and malnutrition was the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government,” the report added, noting that the deaths and suffering from hunger were foreseeable and repeatedly warned against.
During the reporting period, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups continued to hold Israeli and foreign hostages seized on October 7, 2023, either dead or alive, using them as “bargaining tools.” The rights office said the treatment of hostages amounted to war crimes.
The report concluded that Israeli forces, Hamas, and other Palestinian armed groups committed serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, gross violations and abuses of international human rights law, and atrocity crimes.
Impunity and accountability
Last week, UN rights chief Volker Turk warned that the world is witnessing “rapid steps to change permanently the demography of the occupied Palestinian territory.” Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently vowed to encourage “emigration” from Palestinian territories.
UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo also warned the Security Council that Israel’s measures to tighten control of areas of the West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority amount to “gradual de facto annexation.”
Thursday’s report concluded that, taken together, Israeli practices “indicated a concerted and accelerating effort to consolidate annexation of large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to deny Palestinians’ right to self-determination.”
The report emphasized the pervasive climate of impunity for serious violations of international law by Israeli authorities in the Palestinian territories.
Turk stressed, “Impunity is not abstract – it kills. Accountability is indispensable. It is the prerequisite for a just and durable peace in Palestine and Israel.”
