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| UN experts condemned the sharp escalation of #Israeli attacks against #Palestinian civilians across the occupied Palestinian territory, incl. Gaza & West Bank, in July, registering a sharp deterioration of an already catastrophic human rights situation. |
UN experts condemn escalation in attacks against Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank
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