West Bank Inquiry: UN Panel Identifies 1,143 Fatalities

United Nations-mandated investigators have reported that 1,143 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem between October 7, 2023, and October 9, 2026. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory stated that at least 250 of those killed were children. This count includes victims of both Israeli and Palestinian security forces.

The commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, concluded that Israeli authorities and forces committed crimes against humanity. The report identifies extermination, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence as specific offenses. It describes the military operations, reinforced by sustained settler violence, as a widespread and systematic attack against civilians. The panel found that the Israeli government intended to collectively punish West Bank residents following the Hamas attack on Israel.

The findings were issued on Monday, one day before Israel’s general election. The release coincided with an ongoing Israeli military clampdown in Hebron. Forces there carried out expulsions and demolitions in the wake of a gun attack the previous week. The report marks the second major determination by the team, which previously found genocide in Gaza in September 2025. That earlier finding has been flatly rejected by Israel.

Israel’s mission in Geneva responded by calling the report part of a misinformation campaign designed to demonize the state. The mission stated that the international community must reject the distortions and demand the immediate dissolution of the commission. The three-member team is led by former South African High Court judge Navi Pillay, who chaired the investigation until November 2025. Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month.

The data on fatalities comes from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The report notes that the situation in the territory has deteriorated gravely since October 2023. For context, the Israeli military offensive in Gaza has displaced nearly the entire population and killed more than 74,500 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The commission’s current focus remains on the bodily and mental harm caused in the West Bank during this three-year period.