This statement was delivered by Human Rights Watch at the 63rd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council during a general debate on the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories held on September 29, 2026.
On August 18th, the Israeli government opened a new tender for the construction of 1,234 housing units in the illegal E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank. A month later, despite condemnation and flying in the face of international law, Israeli authorities posted an additional tender for 2,147 housing units in E1.
For the current Israeli government, this behavior is not the exception – it is the norm. Since taking office, they have nearly doubled the number of illegal settlements in the West Bank. At the same time, Israeli authorities have overseen an increase in state-backed settler violence to all-time highs. According to OCHA, Israeli forces and settlers have displaced nearly 50,000 Palestinians and killed 1,333 in the West Bank since the start of 2023.
OHCHR’s database of businesses involved in illegal Israeli settlements is an important tool for holding companies accountable for their complicity in human rights abuses and for upholding their obligations under international law as spelt out in the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice. It is up to all states to ensure there are legal and reputational consequences for this complicity and strengthen enforcement mechanisms to that effect.
In Gaza, the humanitarian situation remains dire. Reconstruction has not yet begun, and Israel’s continued obstruction of humanitarian aid and unlawful blockade continues, even as more than 90 percent of the population lack adequate shelter and are at risk of reaching high levels of acute food insecurity by December.
We welcome the decisions made by a growing number of states to ban trade with Israel’s illegal settlements, including most recently the UK, France, and Canada. But there is much more to be done. Human Rights Watch calls on States to act to prevent further atrocities, including by imposing targeted sanctions on officials implicated in ongoing grave abuses, suspending arms transfers and military assistance to Israel, and supporting the International Criminal Court and its ongoing investigations, including by executing its arrest warrants.
Thank you.
