The Israeli state plays a “central role” in worsening settler violence in the occupied West Bank, which forced 36,000 Palestinians off their land in 12 months, the UN’s human rights office said in a report on Tuesday.
“Settler violence continued in a co-ordinated, strategic and largely unchallenged manner, with Israeli authorities playing the central role in directing, participating in or enabling this conduct,” the report said.
The study, which covered the year up to October 2025, documented 1,732 instances of settler violence, a significant increase from 1,400 the previous year.
“The displacement in the occupied West Bank, which coincides with the extensive displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, at the hands of the Israeli military, appears to indicate a concerted Israeli policy of mass forcible transfer throughout the occupied territory, aimed at permanent displacement, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing,” it added.
There has been a surge in settlement expansion and Israeli violence in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, following the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023. Israel’s current government, which was elected at the end of 2022, contains many high-profile settlers for whom taking Palestinian land is a policy priority.
The report expressed particular concern over violence during the olive harvest season, which injured 131 Palestinians; daily attacks by settlers and state-armed “settler soldiers”; major settlement plans near East Jerusalem, intended to end prospects for a Palestinian state; the transfer of power in occupied territories from military to civilian Israeli bodies; and the approval of almost 37,000 housing units in East Jerusalem and about 27,200 in the West Bank.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called on Israel “to immediately and completely cease and reverse the establishment and expansion of settlements, for the evacuation all settlers, and an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territory”.
“Israel must also enable the return of displaced Palestinians, and stop all practices of land confiscation, forced evictions and house demolitions,” the senior official further demanded.
