GENEVA — The UN human rights office on Tuesday expressed concerns about possible “ethnic cleansing,” denouncing an acceleration of Israeli settlements and displacements of thousands of Palestinians in large parts of the West Bank that has grown “more relentless” in recent months.
The new report from the office of Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, covers a yearlong period through the end of October and warns of expanded settlements in large parts of the West Bank and the forced displacement of more than 36,000 Palestinians.
The Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva responded by saying that as far as Israel was concerned, the UN human rights office “has lost all credibility.”
Türk alleged that Israeli authorities were “playing the central role in directing, participating in or enabling this conduct,” and the report denounced harassment, intimidation and destruction of farmland and homes of Palestinians.
“The displacement of more than 36,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank represented the mass expulsion of Palestinians on a scale previously unseen, amounting to unlawful transfer that is prohibited under international humanitarian law,” the report said.
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In its response, the Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva alluded to longtime allegations against the UN body — backed often by the United States — of unfair bias against Israel and a relative disregard of other human rights situations around the world.
“It does not function as an impartial and neutral human rights office, but as the epicenter of vile anti-Israel activism,” the mission said in a statement, blasting a “UN anti-Israel narrative machine” that has produced several reports about Israeli settlements in recent months.
“It begs the question how it is possible for the Office to fund such duplicity, while other human rights situations remain sidelined,” it added.
Last month, Israel’s permanent mission in Geneva dismissed a similar report. “Office of the High Commissioner is engaged in a vicious campaign of demonization and disinformation against the State of Israel,” it said at the time. Israel has also insisted it only takes actions necessary for its security due to the ongoing terror threat emanating from the Palestinian territories.
Much of the displacement of thousands has taken place in the northern West Bank, where Israel launched a broad counter-terror operation in early 2025. Israel’s government says the operation is aimed at stamping out terror groups active in the area.
Tuesday’s report said the displacement “appears to indicate a concerted Israeli policy of mass forcible transfer throughout the occupied territory, aimed at permanent displacement, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing.”
Israel says the territory’s status is disputed and does not see it as an occupation.
Illustrative: IDF soldiers guard a tour of the West Bank city of Hebron, on February 14, 2026. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)
At the same time, Israel’s hardline government has pressed ahead with an increase in new Israeli settlements across the West Bank, which is home to roughly three million Palestinians as well as more than 500,000 Israelis living in settlements and outposts.
Most of the international community views Israel’s presence in the West Bank as illegal, though the US under President Donald Trump has been more tolerant.
The rights office, which falls under the secretariat of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, pointed to the advancement or approval by Israeli authorities of around 27,200 housing units in the West Bank, as well as 36,973 housing units in East Jerusalem, a part of Israel’s capital whose annexation was not recognized by much of the international community.
Also during the 12-month period, “an unprecedented 84 settlement outposts were established across the occupied West Bank, bringing the total number to more than 300,” the report said.
Türk called for an immediate halt to the settlements and a reversal of their impact, along with the evacuation of all settlers and “an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territory.”
The construction boom has been accompanied by an increase in settler violence against Palestinians. Israeli leaders have portrayed the violence as the work of a tiny minority of extremists, but Palestinians and human rights groups say the Israeli army has done little to prevent the attacks and note that settlers are rarely held accountable.
Jewish men build temporary housing units made from shipping containers at an outpost in the Binyamin region of the West Bank, March 12, 2026. (Dor Pazuelo/Flash90)
Earlier this month, three Palestinians were killed in a violent clash with settlers near Khirbet Abu Falah, east of Ramallah, and in a rare rebuke, the Israeli military strongly condemned the settler violence.
While outside the period covered by the UN report, the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of “exploiting the atmosphere of war” and the lack of international attention to issues in the West Bank to intensify intimidation, violence and forced displacement.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the PA health ministry. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 65 civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes during raids in Palestinian cities in the West Bank.
The same period has also seen a major surge in attacks by settler extremists on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank. The IDF recorded 867 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence in 2025. The total for 2024 was 682 incidents.
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