UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk said that Israel’s accelerating settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian Territories amounts to a war crime.
Türk’s office said that it documented extensive violations of international law by Israel in a report it released on Tuesday.
While the final determination of such crimes lies with the courts, the International Criminal Court in The Hague was currently investigating possible war crimes committed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as by Palestinian militant leaders.
The Israeli government routinely dismisses the findings from the UN Human Rights Office and the Human Rights Council, accusing both Geneva-based bodies of bias against Israel.
“The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime,’ Türk said.
His office detailed a significant surge in settlement activity between November 1, 2023 and October 31, 2024 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In East Jerusalem alone, initial steps were taken to construct 20,000 new housing units.
Israel captured and annexed East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. The annexation is not recognised under international law.
Additionally, plans for more than 10,300 new housing units in existing West Bank settlements have been unveiled.
The report notes the establishment of 49 new settler outposts during the reporting period — more than in the previous 12 months.
Forced displacement of Palestinians also rose sharply, with around 4,500 people uprooted — three times as many as the previous year.
In East Jerusalem, 214 Palestinian properties were demolished, while nearly 1,800 were destroyed elsewhere in the West Bank.
Violence also escalated, with 612 Palestinians and 24 Israelis killed during the period covered by the report.
“Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers,” Türk said.
He added that Israel must also provide “reparations for the damage caused by decades of illegal settlement.”
