Permanent Control of Gaza, Jewish Majority in West Bank at Core of Israeli Policy: UN
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Israel is pursuing permanent domination over Gaza while tightening its grip on the occupied West Bank in a strategy aimed at extinguishing Palestinian self-determination, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said in a damning report.
The commission documented a “clear and consistent” Israeli policy since October 2023 to forcibly expel Palestinians, expand Jewish-only settlements, and annex the entirety of the West Bank.
It said the overarching goal is to dismantle any prospect of a Palestinian state and entrench Israeli apartheid across all occupied lands.
Commission chair Navi Pillay condemned Israeli leaders for openly plotting annexation.
“I am particularly appalled by the Israeli finance minister (Bezalel) Smotrich’s recently announced plan of annexing 82 percent of the occupied West Bank, and by the approval of a plan cementing the E1 settlement expansion, with prime minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu asserting that this will ensure there will be no Palestinian State,” Pillay said.
She added that the regime’s “encroachment into the entirety of the West Bank and the dispossession and relocation of multiple Palestinian communities are now explicit goals, which Israeli officials proudly boast about,” calling the measures “abhorrent and (to) be condemned widely.”
The inquiry found that Israeli forces unleashed destructive campaigns in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps since early 2025, razing homes and displacing residents under the guise of “security.”
The report concluded such collective punishment had no military justification and was part of a calculated effort to terrorize Palestinian communities.
In Gaza, investigators found Israeli authorities “extensively and systematically” demolished civilian infrastructure and widened buffer zones to seize more than 75% of the enclave’s land by July.
The commission said the actions stripped Palestinians of vital resources and “inflicted conditions of life calculated to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, which is an underlying act of genocide.”
Pillay demanded Israel immediately end its theft of Palestinian land.
“Israel must immediately end and reverse its confiscation and use of Palestinian land in Gaza, including for the creation and expansion of the buffer zone and corridors. It must return all confiscated land to its Palestinian owners,” she declared, noting that Israeli actions deepen Palestinian misery while failing to provide security.
The inquiry also highlighted discriminatory laws inside Israel that confine Palestinian localities and ensure Jewish demographic dominance, mirroring policies in the West Bank.
It concluded this was part of a broader apartheid system designed to secure a Jewish majority “in all areas under Israeli control.”
The report directly named Netanyahu, finance minister Smotrich, national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, minister of settlements Orit Strock, current war minister Israel Katz, and former war minister Yoav Gallant as most responsible for crimes of land theft, dispossession, and even incitement to genocide.
The commission will present its findings to the UN General Assembly on Oct. 28 in New York.
Its conclusions follow last week’s determination that Israel has already crossed into genocide in Gaza, committing four of the five crimes defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention: mass killings, inflicting severe physical and mental harm, deliberately creating conditions meant to destroy the group, and preventing births.
