10 August 2026
GENEVA
– UN experts* today condemned the sharp escalation of attacks against
Palestinian civilians across the occupied Palestinian territory in July,
registering a sharp deterioration of an already catastrophic human
rights situation.
“Despite a ceasefire nominally in force since
October 2025, Israeli forces have killed about 160 Palestinians in Gaza
in July alone, bringing the death toll in the ravaged enclave since the
so-called ceasefire to more than 1,200. This includes women, children,
older persons and others who had taken shelter in tents and areas to
which they had been directed for their own safety,” the experts said.
“Most killings occurred in densely populated displacement zones such as
Al-Mawasi, far from the so-called yellow line. Nowhere in Gaza is safe.”
The
experts reported with alarm that entire residential blocks receive
evacuation orders just before fighter jets destroy them, deepening the
already severe shelter crisis. “The continuous westward advancement of
the so-called yellow line, the construction of a 23-kilometre barrier
along it and the systematic detonation of residential buildings are
re-engineering the geography of illegally occupied Gaza through force
and displacement,” the experts said. They also condemned strikes on
hospitals and shelters, the killing of police officers and UN-contracted
staff, attacks on fishers, and abductions and abuses by armed groups
reportedly collaborating with the Israeli military, as well as the
killing of humanitarian workers, who through their work protecting and
promoting fundamental human rights, are human rights defenders. “The
genocide is continuing unabated,” the experts said.
They warned
that food aid is still not entering Gaza freely, while products brought
in through commercial channels are ultra-processed and neither
nutritionally nor culturally adequate.
“With farmland and clean
water inaccessible and agricultural inputs blocked, Palestinians are
unable to feed themselves,” said the experts, adding that the burden is
falling heaviest on children, older persons and those with disabilities.
They also warned that food insecurity is fuelling a rise in
gender-based violence and child marriage, as well as endangering women
in their daily searches for food.
In the West Bank, including East
Jerusalem, the experts deplored the killing of at least 14 Palestinians
in July, most of them in the final 10 days, as well as deaths resulting
from movement restrictions, among them the death of a four-month-old
baby and a pregnant woman's miscarriage after ambulances were blocked at
military gates. “When checkpoints and gates threaten the lives of
infants, pregnant women and their unborn children, movement restrictions
become lethal instruments,” they said.
The experts were particularly shocked by the surge in settler terror... READ MORE https://waps.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/08/un-experts-condemn-escalation-attacks-against-palestinians-gaza-and-west
