UN experts condemn surge in attacks on Palestinians across occupied territories

UN experts on Monday condemned a “sharp escalation” in attacks against Palestinian civilians across the occupied Palestinian territory in July, warning of a further deterioration in an “already catastrophic” human rights situation.

The experts said in a statement that Israeli forces killed about 160 Palestinians in Gaza during July, bringing the death toll since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025 to more than 1,200.

“Nowhere in Gaza is safe,” they said, citing killings in densely populated displacement areas, strikes on hospitals and shelters, and the destruction of residential buildings.

The experts also warned that humanitarian access remains severely restricted, with farmland, clean water and agricultural supplies largely inaccessible.

“The genocide is continuing unabated,” the statement said.

In the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, at least 14 Palestinians were killed in July — most of them in the final 10 days, according to the experts.

They also pointed to a surge in occupier attacks, saying more than 20 incidents were recorded across the West Bank in one weekend following deadly violence in Tell, southwest of Nablus, where four Palestinian men from one family were shot and killed in clashes involving armed occupiers and soldiers.

“Settler terror is not spontaneous; it operates with the protection, and often the participation, of the Israeli occupation forces, in tandem with record settlement expansion, mass demolitions, land seizures and the prolonged sealing of refugee camps – all sustained and encouraged by members of the Israeli cabinet,” the statement said.

The experts urged compliance with International Court of Justice rulings, unimpeded humanitarian access, protection of civilians and accountability for violations of international law.

“Two years on, rather than being compelled to comply, Israel has been allowed to accelerate the very policies the Court found unlawful,” the statement said. “States that aid or assist Israel – politically, militarily or financially – in maintaining this unlawful situation are themselves in breach of international law.”

“This strikes at the heart of the multilateral legal order, all the more so amid a genocide and an openly declared campaign of ethnic cleansing,” the experts added.

In its advisory opinion of July 2024, the ICJ found Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful, and called for it to be brought to an end as rapidly as possible.