HRC62: Settler Violence, Annexation with Complete Impunity in the OPT
The 62nd regular session of the Human Rights Council
15 June - 7 July 2026
Item 2: Interactive Dialogue with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel
15 and 16 June 2026
Interactive Dialogue with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel
By Yassin Qanba /GICJ
Executive Summary
The Interactive Dialogue with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including East Jerusalem, and Israel took place during the 2nd and 3rd meetings of the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council, on 15 and 16 June 2026.
The Commission presented its latest report, which focused on the killing of civilians and the infliction of bodily and mental harm upon them by non-State actors: Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza and the West Bank.
Presenting the report, the Chair of the Commission, Mr Srinivasan Muralidhar, informed the Council that Palestinians had become “victims of all sides”, trapped between the structural violence of Israeli forces and settlers and the fear-based rule of Hamas.
He noted a sharp rise in settler violence (at least seven Palestinians killed and 832 injured in 2025, a 130 per cent increase over 2024) and concluded that such violence functioned as a means of implementing Israeli State policy. Israel, the country concerned, did not take the floor; while the State of Palestine and the Independent Commission for Human Rights addressed the Council.
During the general debate on 16 June, dozens of States and numerous civil society organisations intervened.
Groups of States and individual delegations broadly condemned settler violence, expressed concern over a newly adopted and discriminatory death penalty law, and called for an end to the occupation in line with the International Court of Justice advisory opinion of July 2024; several Western States also condemned Hamas and called for its disarmament and for full implementation of the ceasefire.
Civil society organisations were divided, with some organisations supporting the Commission and urging accountability and others contesting its impartiality. In their concluding remarks, the Commissioners urged States to move beyond concern and condemnation to concrete action.
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