Jerusalem, Israel. A U.N. inquiry said on Tuesday that Israeli authorities are directly involved in settler attacks that have killed, injured and displaced Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The report said Israeli security forces have routinely accompanied settlers and acted as a shield during the violence.
Findings of the inquiry
The report by the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said Israeli authorities enabled settler attacks through financial and military support in a climate of impunity fostered by judicial and law-enforcement bodies.
It said attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural land have surged since 2023, rising by 130%, including incidents involving groups of masked assailants.
“The increasing participation of Israeli security forces in settler attacks amounts to a de facto collapse of the distinction between settlers and soldiers,” the report found.
Israeli response
The Israeli Prime Minister Office and military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel rejects charges that its troops shield settlers during attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, saying such actions are rogue incidents that violate military protocol and are investigated. Israeli and Palestinian rights groups say such investigations rarely lead to punishment.
Context of the settlements
Hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers live among millions of Palestinians on land Israel captured in a 1967 war, where Palestinians hope to build a state.
Most countries and the U.N.’s top court consider such settlements a violation of international law, which Israel disputes, citing historical and biblical ties to the land.
Casualties and documented cases
At least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 injured last year, with violence continuing into 2026 in the form of near-daily attacks, according to the United Nations.
The report said such violence has been used to advance state policy, including the unlawful occupation, displacement of Palestinians and the annexation of Palestinian territory.
The Commission documented cases of assaults, abductions and abuse of Palestinian children by settlers. In one incident on April 19, 2025, a 12-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother were abducted at knifepoint, dragged to an olive grove and tied to a tree with plastic restraints until their family intervened.