The UN Human Rights Office in Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) condemns the Israeli military’s continuing strikes on shelters for Palestinians in Gaza over the last week – including a fourfold increase in strikes on residential buildings. These attacks have killed hundreds of civilians, injured scores of others, displaced thousands and indicate a disregard for the principles of distinction and proportionality required by international humanitarian law.

Of 629 Palestinians reportedly killed in the last week, at least 358 of them, including at least 148 children and women, were reportedly killed as a result of attacks targeting houses and IDP tents. Many more were injured or trapped under the rubble. The high number of strikes on shelters, in the context of the existing destruction of infrastructure in Gaza, raises grave concerns that not all strikes were targeting military objectives.

In addition, 9 Palestinian journalists were killed – making this past week one of the deadliest for journalists since 7 October 2023. They have a deep sense of duty to their work, but they, too, are displaced, tired and hungry like the rest of the population of Gaza. However, it appears that in many instances, these journalists may have been deliberately targeted with the intention of limiting the flow of information on what is happening in Gaza and the scale of the impact that this war is having on civilians.

It is imperative that international journalists be allowed to enter Gaza and their safety ensured, in order to report freely on what is happening on the ground and to promote accountability. 

Israel must take immediate steps to end the apparent collective punishment of Palestinians in the West Bank. Following the killing of a pregnant Israeli woman by armed Palestinians on 14 May near Brukhin settlement, Salfit, Israeli security forces closed all entrances to the Palestinian villages of Kafr Al-Dik and Bruqin, placed all residents under curfew denying them access to supplies, schools and critical health services, carried out mass arrests accompanied by physical assault, and confiscated and damaged land and property including schools. On 15 May, an Israeli minister publicly called on Israel to “flatten” the two Palestinian communities and make them look like “Shja'iya and Tel Sultan” in Gaza.

Israeli settlers went on a rampage against Palestinian communities. During multiple attacks against Palestinians across the West Bank in the past days, which were often carried out in the presence of Israeli security forces, settlers reportedly set fire to at least one Palestinian home and 15 vehicles in Salfit governorate alone, threw stones and damaged several Palestinian vehicles on the Huwwara and Za’tara roads, Nablus, and raided Palestinian herding communities north of Jericho.

On 15 May, in the South Hebron Hills, settlers closed the northern entrance to Masafer Yatta for at least six hours, effectively blocking access to several villages, and on 19 May destroyed the wind turbine used to generate electricity in Qawawis, leaving the entire village without power.

According to information received by the UN Human Rights office OPT, on 18 May, after arresting several men in the town, Israeli security forces shot and killed a 36-year-old man from Bruqin. The deceased was reportedly arrested and detained for more than an hour before being killed while in IF custody, although ISF say that he was killed while running at them with an unidentified object. Israeli security forces is reportedly using as a military post the house where the killed man lived with his wife and children along with other homes in Bruqin.

In parallel, settler groups also called for revenge and escalated attacks against Palestinians, taking advantage of the situation to establish new outposts, in their continued efforts to forcibly displace increasing numbers of Palestinians and take over their land.

Since 16 May, Israeli bulldozers have been uprooting trees in the area in Bruqin after the Israeli army seized, under military orders, land belonging to the village, purportedly to improve security for settlers. On 19 May, the head of settlements regional council announced establishing an office in Bruqin, where groups of settlers have set up several tents and toilets, and called for demolition of Palestinian property and the establishment of a new settlement in the area. Also on 19 May,Israeli security forces demolished a three-story Palestinian home in the town, citing a lack of Israeli building permit.

In an another extremely concerning development, on 18 May, settlers brought dozens of sheep and started building animal pens and other structures for the establishment of a new outpost in close proximity to Palestinian homes in Mughayyir Al-Dir, Ramallah, with concerns that the move is aimed at forcibly displacing the last Palestinian herding community remaining in the area.

The Office is deeply concerned that such actions are directed at displacing Palestinians from their land and consolidating Israel's presence in and transfer of its population into the occupied territory. As the ICJ found in its Advisory Opinion in July last year, Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible. It must cease immediately all new settlement activities and evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

The UN Human Rights Office is deeply concerned by recent claims by a group affiliated with Hamas that they executed Palestinians accused of theft. Such summary executions would constitute serious violations of IHL. Hamas must ensure that any such practice ends immediately. All those responsible must be held to account.

We are alarmed at the rapidly increasing displacement of Palestinians and the destruction of homes in refugee camps in the northern West Bank. On 1 May alone, Israeli forces issued demolition notices for 106 Palestinian-owned structures in Tulkarm camp and NurShams camp for "military purposes", ordering Palestinians to leave or file an objection within 24 hours. Tens of thousands of Palestinians remain forcibly displaced across the northern West Bank with little prospect of return, constituting mass forcible transfer. We are concerned that the additional demolitions are intended to force the displacement of Palestinians and are a form of collective punishment of the civilian population. A strengthened Israeli presence in the camps contravenes Israel’s legal obligation, affirmed by the ICJ, to end its unlawful presence in the OPT as rapidly as possible. 

The UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) somberly marks World Press Freedom Day as Palestinian journalists continue to be killed or injured at an alarming rate with impunity, along with widespread attacks on their work and freedom.

“Press vests have transformed from a means of protection to a target for attacks,” one journalist told the UN Human Rights office in the OPT. The Office has independently verified the killing of 211 journalists in Gaza since 7 October 2023, including 28 woman journalists. According to UNESCO, at least 47 journalists were killed while on duty. And as of 29 April 2025, 49 Palestinian journalists are held in Israeli detention based on the information from Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military have refused to allow foreign journalists entry to Gaza since 7 October 2023, except for limited army-controlled visits – Palestinian journalists endure the trauma of both living under and reporting on the devastation and death inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza by Israel’s military campaign. They are forced to balance the fear for their lives with their professional commitment to go out and report on daily horrors.

Journalists engaged in professional missions in areas of armed conflict must be respected and protected from attack unless directly participating in hostilities. There are strong indications of incidents in which many Palestinian journalists may have been directly targeted by the Israeli military during their work, which would be a war crime.

Meanwhile in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the resilience of Palestinian journalists also persists despite significant, dangerous and targeted backlash against their work. The UN Human Rights Office has monitored multiple cases of journalists detained, a significant number of whom appear to have been detained arbitrarily. Many are held under administrative detention, while others have been detained under broad allegations of “incitement” for social media posts, in many cases for apparently protected speech, as part of wider ongoing efforts to silence civil society and annihilate any form of opposition to the military occupation. Both men and women journalists detained by Israeli security forces have reported to the UN Human Rights Office that they have been subjected to beatings, humiliation and sexual and gender-based violence during interrogations about their journalistic work.

Detention, threats, ill-treatment and sexual violence against journalists falls into a larger pattern of intimidation and smears against Palestinian press across the OPT, where their legitimate work is often claimed by Israeli security forces to be associated with “terrorism” including as a justification to shut down media offices.

Palestinian authorities have further contributed to the oppressive environment for journalists, including by banning certain media entities from broadcasting in the West Bank since January 2025, reportedly for publishing “inciting content, misinformation, sedition and interference in Palestinian internal affairs”. They have also threatened Palestinian journalists not to feed information to their media outlets. The shutdown came in the context of often critical coverage of a 6-week operation by Palestinian security forces in Jenin refugee camp, which started in December 2024.

Both Palestinian and Israeli security forces have banned or limited journalists’ entry to the Jenin and other refugee camps in northern West Bank. They injured, detained, threatened and in some cases subjected journalists to ill-treatment.

There have also been reports of journalists harassed by Hamas authorities in Gaza, where they were reportedly pressured to refrain from covering sensitive incidents or information critical of the de facto authorities.

The targeting of journalists is a violation of both international humanitarian law and international human rights law and must cease immediately. Perpetrators of attacks on journalists must be held accountable, including by third party States. The killing of journalists in Gaza and the suppression of media coverage across the OPT has likely contributed to the creation of an enabling environment for ongoing violations of international law that the UN Human Rights Office and other entities have repeatedly raised concerns about. The press is a vital part of ensuring accountability for international law violations, and attempts to suppress media work, including through the killing, detention, ill-treatment, threatening of journalists, or shutting down their offices, are disturbing and entirely unacceptable. 

For the past 18 months, hostilities in Gaza and severe restrictions on humanitarian assistance, which now include a complete blockade, have devastated the lives of 2.2 million Palestinians, and nearly all essential infrastructure that civilians depend on for survival has been destroyed. Since the collapse of the ceasefire, and during the past week in particular, Israeli attacks on Palestinians have accelerated, claiming the lives of countless civilians and further risking the complete destruction of what little infrastructure remains. The dire conditions for civilians have been further exacerbated by displacement orders and Israel’s renewed complete blockade of the Gaza Strip that has stopped the flow of life saving, critical assistance from reaching increasingly desperate civilians.

In parallel, rampant settler violence and operations conducted by Israeli security forces in the West Bank are continuing to kill or injure Palestinians and are resulting in the forced displacement of Palestinians from their homes or shelters in many areas.

Attacks in Gaza

What little remains of Gaza’s critical life-saving infrastructure is collapsing under the conditions inflicted by Israel. Israel’s complete closure of Gaza, preventing lifesaving assistance from reaching civilians - including food and fuel - has now entered its eighth week. Bakeries have stopped functioning due to the lack of flour and cooking fuel; the prices of basic food items are soaring; and Israeli attacks at sea continue to decimate Gaza’s fishing industry. With food aid halted, remaining stocks in Gaza are rapidly depleting, rendering the strip’s population, especially vulnerable groups and children, at growing risk of starvation.

As the population becomes increasingly desperate due to the scarcity of food and other vital provisions, social unrest is deepening further, with frequent reports of disputes breaking out within the community involving the use of firearms. This takes place in an environment where the law enforcement and justice system has been systematically dismantled by Israeli attacks and the targeting of civilian officials of the local administration.

The Israeli military also continues targeting civilian objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. Between 21 and 22 April, the Israeli military conducted deliberate and coordinated attacks across three governorates in Gaza, resulting in the destruction of 36 heavy machines, including excavators, water trucks, and sewer suction tanks. These were being used by Gaza municipalities for humanitarian relief operations, such as rubble removal, water distribution, and maintenance of vital sanitation systems. The destruction of these vehicles is likely to significantly hinder rescue operations, including retrieval of the injured and killed from under the rubble, clearance of debris to allow the movement of ambulances, as well as delivery of safe drinking water, solid waste collection, and the operation of sewage systems – further risking outbreaks of disease. Intentional attacks on civilian objects, that is, objects that are not used for military action and whose destruction does not offer a definite military advantage at the moment of the attack, are unlawful and constitute a war crime under international humanitarian law.

The Israeli military also continues striking the shelters of Palestinians in Gaza. Between 18 March and 22 April, the UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory recorded 229 attacks on residential buildings and 91 attacks on tents of internally displaced people (IDP) in Gaza, most resulting in fatalities, including many children and women. For instance, at around midnight on 18 April, the Israeli military is reported to have struck two residential buildings belonging to the Maqdad and the Nasio families in Tal Az-Za’atar, North Gaza, killing 13 Palestinians, including 8 children and a journalist, Tamer Maqdad, and injuring others. On 24 April, at around 0300 hours, the Israeli Air Force reportedly hit a house, in Ash Shaikh Redwan, Gaza City, killing two boys and a girl along with their parents. Among these attacks, 36 strikes on IDP tents were reported to have taken place in Al Mawasi area in southern Gaza in which the Israeli military has repeatedly ordered residents of other areas to relocate.

Persistent Israeli military attacks on civilians and civilian objects have continued throughout Gaza in violation of the core principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack required by international humanitarian law. Extremely high civilian casualties over 18 months do not appear to have prompted any changes in Israeli targeting practices and policies, a pattern indicating at the very least a complete disregard for the lives of civilians in Gaza. Matched with Israel’s policy of deliberately blocking life-saving assistance from entering the Gaza Strip, these policies appear to be aimed at punishing the civilian population of Gaza and inflicting on them conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group in Gaza.

Third States must act according to their clear and unambiguous obligations under international law to ensure that such conduct ceases immediately and to search for and bring to justice perpetrators of crimes under international law.

Renewed wave of settler violence across the West Bank

In the West Bank, high levels of settler violence against Palestinians continue, causing death, injuries and loss of property and undermining Palestinian lives and livelihoods in many areas. On 23 April, Israeli settlers reportedly attacked Palestinians and their property in Khirbet al-Tell area of Sinjil village, Ramallah, resulting in the injury of eight young Palestinian men and the destruction of three agricultural structures. According to information gathered, Israeli security forces prevented emergency crews from reaching the wounded and extinguishing the fire. On 21 April, around 200 settlers burned three houses in the same community and stole sheep belonging to Palestinians, prompting confrontations with residents attempting to defend their properties.

Concerning incidents of settler violence resulting in Palestinian injuries and destruction of property were also recorded in other parts of the West Bank. In Bardala village in northern Jordan Valley, between 23 and 24 April, Israeli settlers reportedly injured seven Palestinians with live ammunition and set fire to residential tents and livestock shelters, while Israeli security forces delayed access of Palestinian ambulances to the area. On 17 April in Al-Rakeez village of Massafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills, a 60-year-old Palestinian man had his leg amputated after Israeli settlers shot him following an attempt to move a fence they had constructed around his land. Following the incident, Israeli security forces arrived at the scene and arrested the man’s 16-year-old son, claiming he had assaulted military personnel.

Israeli security forces continued the practice of unlawful killings and large-scale operations in the Northern West Bank

Over the past week, Israeli security forces killed three Palestinians who were throwing stones, including two children. This raised 192 the number of children killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank since 7 October 2023. On 23 April, Israeli security forces opened fire at a group of children and killed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy with a bullet in the back after they threw stones at military armoured vehicles in Yamoun town, Jenin. On 17 April, Israeli security forces killed two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man, who were throwing stones at a highway in Osarin village, Nablus.

Lethal force may only be used if it is strictly unavoidable to protect life; if other, less extreme measures could be used to achieve this objective, then the use of such lethal force constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of life.

Meanwhile, the large-scale operation in the northern West Bank entered its third month, with Israeli security forces continuing to prevent Palestinians from returning to their homes in the refugee camps of Jenin and Tulkarm, while carrying out widespread destruction coupled with the creation of pathways and barriers inside the camps and conducting daily raids on Palestinian towns and villages. With every day this operation continues, the prospect that Palestinians in affected camps will be able to return to their homes is diminishing, risking the permanent displacement of Palestinians from key West Bank population centres, amounting to forcible transfer. 

The UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is horrified by the ongoing killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in Gaza since the resumption of large-scale Israeli bombardment on 18 March. As of 20 March, at least 506 Palestinians were killed, including 200 children and at least 112 women according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Airstrikes and artillery shelling have struck homes, schools serving as shelters, and tents of internally displaced people — a pattern extensively documented by the UN Human Rights Office since October of 2023. The Israeli military appear to have resumed the practice of using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas. Across Gaza, since 18 March, the UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory recorded at least three incidents where more than twenty fatalities were reported, and at least eight incidents with more than ten fatalities. Using explosive weapons with wide- area effects in such densely populated areas will almost certainly have indiscriminate effects and is very likely to be in violation of international humanitarian law rules on the conduct of hostilities.

Conducting hostilities using such means and methods in densely populated areas causes civilian casualties at a mass scale and is not consistent with Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law, including abiding by the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack.

On 20 March, Hamas’s military wing, Al Qassam Brigades, announced firing rockets on Tel Aviv. No casualties were reported. The targeting of civilians or launching of indiscriminate attacks amounts to a war crime.

Israel is again issuing forced displacement orders across Gaza and imposing severe movement restrictions. On 19 March, the Israeli military announced redeployment in Netzarim corridor which separates the north of Gaza from the south and prohibited Palestinians from moving through Salah Ad Deen road. The Israeli military ordered all Palestinians residing in areas located in the vicinity of the fence, described as “dangerous combat zones”, to leave to “known shelters” in western Gaza City and Khan Yunis.

The return of heavy bombardment and mass displacement orders indicates a resurgence of the pattern which has already forced 90 per cent of Palestinians in Gaza into displacement before the ceasefire, often more than once. The devastating impact of mass forced displacement will likely be exacerbated by Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid, the already catastrophic shelter crisis in Gaza, and the lack of access to life- saving services.

Statements by the Israeli government further heighten fears about the deliberate flouting international law prohibitions and further collective punishment.

On the evening of 19 March, a statement by the Israeli Minister of Defence addressed to “residents of Gaza” threatened “significantly worse” strikes if hostages are not released and if Hamas is not expelled from Gaza, stressing that Gaza residents “will pay the price”. The statement referred to the “option” of “relocating to other parts of the world” if Palestinians “wish” to do so after the demands he outlined are met.

“The alternative”, the statement continued, “is utter destruction and devastation.”

Other statements by Israeli officials explicitly said that one of the goals of the renewed bombardment aims to “damage Hamas’s governmental capabilities” through targeting mid-level and senior-ranking members in Hamas’s Political Bureau, including officials in the civilian de-facto authorities— who, under international law, are civilians entitled to protection except if, and for such time, they directly participate in hostilities. Some civilian officials were reportedly killed with their entire families and children, including Ahmed Al Hatta, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Justice, who was killed with his wife and six children.

Violations by one party to the conflict never justify violations by the other. The targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure across Gaza and any measures constituting forcible transfer of the civilian population or collective punishment are violations of international law and are war crimes.

The heightened Israeli siege since 2 March, which has prevented basic necessities from reaching civilians amounts to collective punishment. We recall that in its March 2024 binding order, the International Court of Justice unanimously ordered Israel to take all necessary and effective measures to ensure the unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza, to conform with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Israel is legally bound to immediately end and punish breaches of international law, and as the occupying power, to protect Palestinian civilians from violence, ensure the provision of all necessities of life, and ensure they can return to their homes in safety and dignity.

We repeat our call on member states to take decisive action to end hostilities in Gaza and ensure accountability for the grave breaches of international law committed over the past year and a half. 

The violence, displacement, and humanitarian suffering of the past 15 months has continued through the new year across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The Gaza nightmare continues

In Gaza, it has been 15 months of relentless Israeli attacks that have led to the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, the displacement (often multiple times) of almost everyone across Gaza, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the collapse of public order and safety. Nobody has been spared with scores of killings of first responders, healthcare workers, journalists, local police officers, and UN staff. No place is safe with bombardment continuing to destroy homes, shelters, hospitals, schools and places of worship.

The first week of the new year was no different. Israeli airstrikes, artillery shelling and gunfire reportedly killed at least 332 Palestinians in Gaza since 1 January 2025, including women and children. The Israeli military is still issuing displacement orders, including in Middle Gaza. Airstrikes in Gaza City and Middle Gaza were particularly harsh last week, creating further insecurity and risks for Palestinians who are being forcibly displaced from northern Gaza and are seeking shelter in these areas.

In the meantime, Israel continues to impede the entry of aid into Gaza. The collapse of public order and safety, in large part a result of the Israeli military’s targeting of civilian police, also continues to make it difficult to deliver what little aid is available effectively to those most in need throughout Gaza.

Since 1 January 2025, at least two incidents were reported of Israeli airstrikes allegedly killing guards providing security to aid distribution. A 74-truck UN aid convoy was attacked last Saturday by looters who then seized 43 trucks. An Israeli airstrike on Sunday reportedly hit the tents of internally displaced persons in the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” of Al Mawasi - Khan Yunis and killed two civilian police leaders, one of whom was allegedly in charge of aid security.

The suffering of Palestinians in Gaza is compounded by the harsh winter weather conditions with no proper shelters to stave off the cold and rain. On Monday, 6 January, a 35-day-old baby reportedly died from hypothermia bringing the total reported number of Palestinians who succumbed to the cold to eight, most of them children.

The West Bank

The deterioration of the human rights situation in the West Bank also continues into the New Year. This includes the sustained increase in violence which has so far killed 81 3Palestinians over the past 15 months, especially as a result of settler violence and Israel’s security forces’ consistent use of unlawful lethal. This has involved the growing pattern of using methods and means of warfare outside the conduct of hostilities, the use of lethal force against unarmed Palestinian bystanders, including children and women not posing any threat to life or limb, and extrajudicial executions of Palestinians “wanted” by Israel.

This is in addition to the forced displacement of Palestinians with incessant demolitions and forced evictions, the expansion of illegal settlements, severe restrictions on freedom of movement essentially tearing communities apart, and an unprecedented repression of freedoms of expression, press and opinion.

Since 1 January 2025, Israeli security forces continued daily raids of Palestinian communities reportedly killed nine Palestinians, including four children, most recently two boys aged eight and ten who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Tammun today, 8 January. 

On Friday, Israeli settlers attacked several Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank, assaulted and set fire to Palestinian homes and vehicles and seriously injured at least ten Palestinians, among them an elderly Palestinian man. On Monday, Palestinian armed men reportedly shot at Israeli vehicles near an Israeli settlement, killing three Israelis including two women aged 70 and 73 and an off-duty police officer aged 35 and injuring eight others. Threats of retaliatory violence are surfacing in the media including by senior Israeli officials.

Concerns about the conduct of the Palestinian security forces

The conduct of the Palestinian security forces also continues to be a matter of concern as an operation in Jenin Refugee Camp continued since 5 December 2024. So far, eight Palestinians were killed in the course of the operation, most of them unarmed, and six Palestinian security officers. Among those killed since the beginning of the year in Jenin are a father and his 14-yearold son who were shot to death together on Friday, 3 January. The Palestinian security forces denied responsibility for the incident.

This is happening along with a growing crackdown on the freedom of expression and press in the West Bank including the Palestinian Authority’s shutdown of Al Jazeera broadcasts, reported administrative orders banning criticism of the Palestinian Authority on social media, and reported arrests, threats and ill-treatment based on the exercise of freedom of expression.

We are reiterating our calls on the Palestinian security forces to operate within the strict limits of international human rights law and urge the conduct of transparent, thorough, and effective investigations into all killings by the Palestinian security forces.

Violations of international law must end

Fifteen months of grave breaches of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law with impunity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory cannot be allowed to continue for another year. This responsibility falls on the entire international community, especially countries with influence and leverage who can exercise pressure to protect civilians from further suffering and ensure accountability.

The UN Human Rights Office calls once again on Israel to respect its international law obligations, including as the occupying power, to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians and their unimpeded and dignified access to basic services and essential needs.

The UN Human Rights Office additionally calls for the release of all those arbitrarily detained in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the hostages who remain in Gaza. We remind Israel of its obligation to end its illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as per the International Court of Justice, and to stop all violations of international law including practices that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.