GENEVA: The United Nations said on Thursday that Israel’s intensified attacks and forcible transfers of Palestinians “raise concerns over ethnic cleansing” in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
According to a report by the UN Human Rights Office, Israel’s military operations in Gaza, along with its blockade of the territory, have created conditions “increasingly incompatible with Palestinians’ continued existence as a group.” The report noted that “intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighbourhoods, and the denial of humanitarian assistance appeared to aim at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza.”
The report, covering Nov. 1, 2024, to Oct. 31, 2025, highlighted the systematic use of unlawful force by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem. It also documented widespread arbitrary detention, extensive demolition of Palestinian homes, and measures intended to “systematically discriminate, oppress, control and dominate the Palestinian people.”
“These actions are altering the character, status and demographic composition of the occupied West Bank, raising serious concerns of ethnic cleansing,” the report stated.
In Gaza, the report condemned the killing and maiming of civilians, the spread of famine, and destruction of civilian infrastructure. During the period, at least 463 Palestinians, including 157 children, died from starvation. The UN said Palestinians were faced with the “inhumane choice of either starving to death or risking being killed while trying to get food.”
The report noted that starvation of civilians as a method of war constitutes a war crime and, depending on intent, could also amount to genocide.
The UN also criticized Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups for holding Israeli and foreign hostages from the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, calling their treatment a war crime.
Overall, the report concluded that both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups committed “serious violations of international humanitarian law, gross human rights abuses, and atrocity crimes.”
The warnings come amid statements by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who recently advocated encouraging “emigration” from Palestinian territories, reflecting tensions over the future of the West Bank.