- This thematic report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights considers the human rights situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with a focus on Israel’s discriminatory administration there in violation of international law, including Article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination (ICERD) which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid.
- The report analyses Israel’s discriminatory laws, policies, and practices of oppression and domination against Palestinians, some in place for decades, with a focus on the period between 7 October 2023 and 30 September 2025.
A comprehensive report released by the UN Human Rights Office has documented the suffocating impact of Israel’s laws, policies and practices on every aspect of daily life for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The report warns that Israel is violating international law, particularly obligations to prohibit and eradicate racial segregation and apartheid.
The report notes that systemic discrimination against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a long-standing concern, but stresses that the situation has drastically deteriorated since at least December 2022. It provides numerous examples showing how Palestinian life has become increasingly constrained, insecure and subject to constant pressure.
According to the report, Israeli authorities apply two separate legal systems in the West Bank, governing Israeli settlers and Palestinians under distinct bodies of law.
This dual system results in unequal treatment in critical areas such as freedom of movement and access to land, water and other resources. Palestinians continue to face large-scale land confiscation, dispossession and denial of access to their homes and livelihoods.
The report highlights that Palestinians are routinely subjected to military courts, where due process and fair trial rights are systematically violated, while Israeli settlers are protected under civil law.
It concludes that this separation, segregation and subordination appear intended to be permanent in order to maintain domination over Palestinians, amounting to a violation of Article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid.
It states that since 7 October 2023, Israel has significantly expanded the use of unlawful force, arbitrary detention, torture, repression of civil society, restrictions on media freedoms, severe movement limitations and settlement expansion.
The human rights situation has deteriorated at an unprecedented rate, compounded by escalating settler violence, often with the acquiescence, support or participation of Israeli security forces.
The report documents patterns of unlawful killings and the deliberate use of lethal force in a discriminatory manner against Palestinians.
It cites cases such as the shooting of 10-year-old Saddam Hussein Rajab in Tulkarem in January 2025 while standing unarmed, and the killing of eight-month pregnant Sondos Shalabi in February 2025, despite Israeli forces later acknowledging she was unarmed and posed no threat.
Discriminatory movement restrictions are also shown to have severe economic and social consequences, preventing Palestinians from reaching workplaces, accessing their land and maintaining livelihoods, leading to widespread financial hardship.
The construction of roads reserved exclusively for settlers further fragments Palestinian communities, while thousands of Palestinians have been evicted from their homes, a practice the report warns may amount to unlawful transfer, a war crime.
The report further details how Palestinians are deprived of their natural resources, particularly water. It describes the unlawful confiscation and demolition of Palestinian water infrastructure and the diversion of water to settlements, forcing the Palestinian Authority to purchase water from an Israeli government company extracting resources from the occupied territory.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said there is a “systematic asphyxiation” of Palestinian rights, with every aspect of life — from accessing water, education and healthcare to visiting family or harvesting crops — controlled and curtailed by discriminatory Israeli policies.
He described the situation as a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation resembling apartheid.
The report highlights widespread impunity, noting that of more than 1,500 Palestinians killed between January 2017 and September 2025, only 112 investigations were opened and just one conviction secured.
Thousands of Palestinians remain arbitrarily detained, often without charge or trial, while illegal settlement expansion continues, including approval for 19 new settlements.
Türk called on Israel to repeal all discriminatory laws and practices, dismantle settlements, end its unlawful presence in the occupied territory and respect the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
