A group of 13 UN Special Rapporteurs appointed by the Human Rights Council has issued a stark warning about surging Israeli settler violence across the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, describing it as an instrument of coercion that is driving the forcible displacement of Palestinian communities.

“Settler brutality has reached unprecedented levels this year,” the experts said, reporting that at least 13 Palestinians have been killed and close to 500 injured in the first five months of 2026 alone, outpacing figures from previous years. The continued displacement of Palestinians, they warned, would expose approximately 663 square kilometres of land to further settlement expansion.

No part of the West Bank has been spared, but the burden falls hardest on communities in Area C, which remains under full Israeli military and civil control. The Jordan Valley and the South Hebron Hills are under particular pressure. In areas such as Masafer Yatta, near-daily raids by settlers and Israeli forces have become a pervasive feature of daily life. “Violence is used as a calculated, targeted tool to deny Palestinians access to essential services, agricultural and grazing areas, with the ultimate aim of severing the people’s connection to the land,” the experts said.

The village of Umm al-Kheir in the South Hebron Hills offers a particularly stark illustration. Now encircled by the Carmel settlement and a new outpost whose construction began in July 2025, the community has faced repeated water and electricity cuts, demolitions and violent attacks by settlers. A human rights defender from the community was shot and killed, allegedly by an armed settler, during protests against that construction. Demolition orders now threaten the village with erasure. Umm al-Kheir is not alone: since 2023, new outpost installations across Areas B and C have consistently preceded and driven the forcible transfer of Palestinian communities. Khan al-Ahmar, Abu Falah, Al Hathroura, Bariyyat Z’tara, Abo El-Henna and Khallet a-Thabe’ all face similar risks.

The experts warned that diplomatic attention has shifted elsewhere in the region, allowing accountability for settler violence to slip further from view. “Facing no pushback and no censure, Israel continues irreversibly eroding the Palestinians’ right to self-determination enshrined in international law,” they said.

They urged Israel to cease all financial, military, legislative and political support for settlements and outposts, to ensure accountability for settler attacks, to guarantee effective protection for Palestinian communities and to allow the safe and dignified return of displaced residents. Despite the unlawfulness of its occupation, they noted, Israel remains bound by its obligations under the Geneva Conventions, including the duty to treat the Palestinian population as protected persons under international humanitarian law.

Source: UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteurs, Geneva, 1 June 2026