UN Rights Chief Condemns Israeli Policies in West Bank as Apartheid-Like

Wed Feb 18 2026 23:52:31 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

The UN human rights office's recent report condemns Israeli practices towards Palestinians in the West Bank, highlighting systematic discrimination reminiscent of apartheid.

In a significant report, the UN human rights office has categorized Israeli policies towards Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as akin to an apartheid system, marking a stark warning of escalating systemic discrimination. These findings highlight severe restrictions affecting daily life and call into question Israel's adherence to international human rights standards. The Israeli government has dismissed the report as politically motivated.

The UN human rights office has issued a report detailing what it calls Israel's systemic discrimination against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and said the situation has drastically deteriorated over the past three years.

Israeli laws, policies, and practices were having an asphyxiating impact on every aspect of daily life for Palestinians and violated an international convention against racial discrimination, it said.

This is a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before, High Commissioner Volker Türk warned.

Israel dismissed the accusations as absurd and distorted.

The Israeli mission in Geneva stated that the UN human rights office completely ignores fundamental facts that lie at the basis of the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict, and that inform the actions and policies of the State of Israel, mainly the grave security threats Israel faces, which were put on display on October 7, 2023.

It also accused the office of abusing its position to issue yet another unmandated report and having an inherently politically driven fixation... on vilifying Israel.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war, alongside an estimated 3.3 million Palestinians. These settlements are illegal under international law.

This report marks the first time a UN human rights chief has explicitly compared Israeli policies in the West Bank to apartheid—racial segregation enforced in South Africa from 1948 to 1991.

According to the 42-page report by his office, Israeli authorities treat Israeli settlers and Palestinians living in the West Bank under two distinct bodies of law and policies, resulting in significant inequality across various critical issues.

Moreover, the report suggests that the systemic discrimination has worsened since the Hamas-led attacks in October 2023, coinciding with a surge in settlement construction and denial of essential resources to Palestinians.

High Commissioner Türk concluded that the apparent intent behind these policies indicates a long-term strategy of oppression, reinforcing the urgent need for action against these practices to meet Israel's international obligations.