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By Olivia Le Poudivan

GENEVA, June 9 (Reuters) - A United Nations commission of inquiry said on Tuesday that Israeli authorities were directly involved in settler attacks that killed, injured and displaced Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli security forces provided protection to the settlers.

The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory concluded in a report that Israeli authorities enabled settlers, through financial and military support, to attack Palestinians, in a climate of impunity reinforced by judicial bodies and law enforcement agencies.

The committee noted in its report that attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural lands have escalated since 2023, increasing by 130 percent, and included incidents involving groups of masked assailants. The report stated that Israeli security forces routinely accompanied and protected settlers as they perpetrated the violence.

The Prime Minister's office and the Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment.

Israel rejects accusations that its forces protect settlers as they attack Palestinians in the West Bank, saying such incidents are isolated cases that violate military protocol and are investigated. Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups say such investigations rarely result in punishment.

Hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers live among millions of Palestinians on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 war. Most countries and the International Court of Justice consider these settlements to be a violation of international law, a view Israel disputes, citing historical and religious ties to the land.

The United Nations said at least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 others were injured last year, with violence continuing into 2026 in the form of near-daily attacks.

The committee concluded in the report that "the increased involvement of Israeli security forces in settler attacks means a de facto breakdown of the distinction between settlers and soldiers."

She added that such violence was used to further state policy, including the illegal occupation, displacement of Palestinians and annexation of Palestinian land.

The committee documented cases of assault, kidnapping, and abuse perpetrated by settlers against Palestinian children. In one incident on April 19, 2025, a 12-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother were kidnapped at gunpoint, taken to an olive grove, and tied to a tree with plastic ties until their family intervened.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued a non-binding advisory opinion stating that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the settlements there are illegal and that these settlement outposts should be dismantled as soon as possible, which is the strongest conclusion the court has reached so far on the conflict.

The committee also said that these settlers committed or threatened to commit acts of sexual violence to instill fear in Palestinian women and harass them.

The committee chairman, S. Muralidhar, a former senior Indian judge, said, "The ongoing daily attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians are intolerable and must end." He urged the international community to pressure Israel to dismantle settlements and outposts and curb the violence.

The report stated that Israeli authorities did not continue to take measures to stop the attacks despite periodic condemnations and the dismantling of some unlicensed settlement outposts.

Hamas violations

In the report, the committee expressed its deep concern about the serious violations it had documented in the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Hamas did not respond to a request for comment on the committee's findings.

The commission found that Hamas forces were involved in at least 60 of the 249 documented cases of executions and severe physical violence, including beatings with metal rods and bone breaking, as punishment for what it says was collaboration with Israel or looting of aid, from 2024 to 2025.

Eleven men were publicly executed in two separate incidents. The commission stated that these acts constituted war crimes and violations of international law.

The commission concluded that the attack launched by Hamas and other armed groups against Israel on October 7, 2013, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people, the taking of hostages to Gaza, and the destruction of property, amounted to war crimes. The Israeli military campaign against the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the destruction of a large part of Gaza.

A previous report by the commission stated that Israel committed genocide during its military offensive in Gaza, and that senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts. Israel rejected these accusations, calling them "outrageous."