State of the Occupation Report 2026

The fourth Platform Report, released for the 59th year of the occupation, is presented by 22 Israeli human rights organizations that operate, document, and conduct research in Israel and in the occupied territories, out of the conviction that human rights are universal and that they are being systemically violated by the policies of the occupation.

As the occupation enters its 60th year, this report summarizes a difficult, violent year, during which the Israeli government has continued to aggressively advance policies of forced displacement and annexation, while violating the human rights of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem and breaching its obligations under international law. At the same time, within Israel, the systemic retreat from the principles of the rule of law continues, alongside a persistent erosion of the democratic space.

Despite the profound impact of the occupation on both Israeli and Palestinian society, the issue is entirely absent from the discourse surrounding the upcoming elections. The information presented in this report is difficult to read, yet we, as citizens of Israel, have a duty to bring the full reality of the situation to the attention of the broader public. We hope that this report will serve as a tool to deepen public debate and strengthen demands for change, including in the lead‑up to the elections.

In preparing this report, every effort was made to compile, verify, and cross‑check information and to provide references to sources. To the best of our knowledge, the information contained in this report is accurate and reliable. Any errors are unintentional.

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59 Years of Occupation

The information presented in this report has been rigorously collected, verified, and cross-referenced through sustained efforts. It is difficult to read and absorb. Still, we, the signatory organizations, hope you will engage with it and join us in calling for action and for the redress of the injustices it exposes.

The report introduction

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Gaza Strip

Overview

Despite the ceasefire agreement that entered into effect in October 2025, Israel has continued to attack population centers and restrict the entry of aid, food, and essential goods. Israel is also systematically destroying buildings and infrastructure in the area that remains under its control, which makes up about 58% of the Strip. Gaza’s roughly two million residents are crowded into less than half of the territory, living in tents without clean drinking water, electricity, or basic healthcare services. More than 18,500 sick and wounded people are waiting to be evacuated for medical treatment outside of Gaza, while medical evacuations remain extremely limited. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza was exacerbated during the war with Iran, and the harsh living conditions are driving the spread of infectious diseases as well as pest and rodent infestations.

The Yellow Line

Under the ceasefire agreement, the Yellow Line is defined as being temporary, and leaves about 58% of the Gaza Strip under direct Israeli control. In practice, this means that more than two million residents are crowded into less than half of the territory of the Gaza Strip. The military’s open‑fire regulations in this area permit shoot‑to‑kill use of live fire against anyone who crosses the line or approaches it. As a result, hundreds of civilians have been killed, including women and children, especially in the first days and weeks when its exact route was unclear. The Israeli military, meanwhile, has been entrenching its presence in the area under its control by demolishing buildings and infrastructure, installing new outposts, and building an earth berm along the line: measures indicating that Israel is seeking to consolidate its hold over this part of the Strip.

Humanitarian crisis and restrictions on the entry of aid and goods

While more food has been entering Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, prices remain out of reach for many, and about 77% of Gaza’s residents experience food insecurity and depend on humanitarian assistance. The electricity grid is not functioning, and the limited power available relies on generators and solar panels. Israel restricts entry of thousands of items essential for healthcare, infrastructure repair, rubble removal, and reconstruction, classifying them as “dual‑use” goods. Israel has also revoked the licenses of dozens of aid organizations and continued to block the entry of various types of medical equipment and devices. The widespread destruction of roads across the Gaza Strip further hampers the delivery and distribution of aid to communities in need.

Impact of the war and displacement on women and girls

The war has had unique and particularly grave consequences for women in Gaza. Since October 2023, more than 10,000 women have been killed, thousands are living with life‑altering injuries, and tens of thousands have been widowed or have lost children, parents, or other relatives. Women bear the primary responsibility for children and the elderly while grappling with scarcity, including a lack of basic hygiene products and private space, which is particularly necessary given Palestinian society’s conservative social norms. Gender‑based violence, including sexual and domestic violence, has increased, and the collapse of family, social, and legal structures has left women and girls vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. This collapse has also contributed to a steep increase in child marriage and adolescent pregnancies. Meanwhile, there is an acute shortage of healthcare services for women, as well as prenatal and postnatal care for women and girls.

The health crisis

As a result of the war, about 42,000 people in the Gaza Strip, including 10,500 children, are living with serious injuries. The harsh living conditions in displacement sites are driving the spread of respiratory, skin, and gastrointestinal diseases; hepatitis A; and illnesses transmitted by parasites and rodents. Gaza’s healthcare system, which was devastated during the war, is struggling with an overwhelming patient load and major shortages of staff, medicines, and medical equipment. Israel restricts the entry of medicines and medical supplies, bars the entry of physicians from Israel and the West Bank, rejects many applications by volunteer physicians from abroad, and limits the options available to seriously ill and wounded patients to leave the Strip for treatment.

Population displacement and its impact

Around 90% of Gaza’s residents were displaced during the war, many of them multiple times. Currently, about 1.7 million people are living in 1,600 displacement sites in abject poverty and extremely harsh conditions, lacking the most basic items needed for shelter. Without basic services and infrastructure such as sewage, electricity, safe drinking water, and minimal hygiene, many people suffer from infectious diseases and rodent and parasite infestations are rampant. The suffering intensifies during episodes of extreme weather: winter storms have led to deaths from hypothermia and from the collapse of unsafe structures, while Israel’s bans on the entry of items such as tent poles, prefabricated structures, and construction materials prevent improvement in housing conditions.

Deaths, injuries and missing persons

Despite the ceasefire agreement that entered into effect in October 2025, Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip have continued. By April 2026, 811 Palestinians were killed and more than 2,000 were injured by Israeli bombardments and gunfire, including residents who were shot when they approached the Yellow Line or accidentally crossed it. Since the beginning of the war, approximately 72,600 people have been killed, about 45% of whom were women and children, and thousands of additional bodies remain buried under the rubble. According to internal assessments by the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate from May 2025, approximately 83% of those killed in the war were civilians.

Photo by Doaa Albaz, Activestills

Introduction

Israel continues to advance a policy of de facto annexation of the West Bank through settlement expansion, the transfer of civilian management powers in the West Bank from the military to civilian bodies subordinate to elected politicians, and seismic changes in the land regime. Settler violence has intensified, at times in cooperation with soldiers, resulting in harm to civilians and the forced displacement of numerous Palestinian communities. Hundreds of checkpoints restrict the freedom of movement of 3.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank, farmers’ access to their land is blocked, and more than 100,000 workers are prevented from working in Israel. These restrictions, together with Israel’s freeze on the transfer of Palestinian Authority funds, are fueling a worsening economic crisis. Although petitions to the High Court of Justice remain a central tool in the struggle against violations, their effectiveness is limited due to protracted proceedings and insufficient judicial intervention.

Military activity and presence

In 2025 and the first half of 2026 hundreds of Palestinians were killed and thousands injured in military operations, isolated incidents, or as a result of a failure by security forces to prevent settler violence. Tens of thousands of residents of refugee camps in the northern West Bank remain displaced and live in a state of crisis. Reports indicate an increase in looting during military activity, as well as in the use of arbitrary arrest of Palestinians without due process. Meanwhile, the increased use of closure orders effectively protects attacking settlers while removing journalists and protective presence activists, thereby stripping vulnerable communities of a layer of protection. The rate at which soldiers are prosecuted for killing Palestinians, violence, or looting remains close to zero.

Settler violence

In 2026, violent attacks by Israeli civilians, most of whom are residents of settlements and outposts, against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank have grown in number and severity. From the beginning of 2026 until mid-May, settler gunfire killed 13 Palestinians and injured hundreds, in more than 800 settler attacks on over 220 Palestinian communities. Settlers, some armed with military-issued firearms, operate with almost complete impunity: 93% of investigation files are closed without an indictment. Israeli security forces do not protect Palestinians and, in some cases, assist the attackers. Israeli and international protective presence activists are also assaulted without any effective response from law enforcement. Far-right activists openly boast of these attacks on social media, without any apparent fear of legal consequences.

Community displacement and ethnic cleansing

Since October 2023, more than 750 Palestinian families from 75 communities in the West Bank have been forced out of their homes, with about 30% displaced in the first two and a half months of 2026 alone. This displacement, defined by human rights organizations as ethnic cleansing, takes place while the authorities turn a blind eye and, at times, with their active assistance. The expulsions are usually carried out through a combination of measures: surrounding communities with illegal outposts, systemic and ongoing settler violence, lack of protection from the authorities, demolition of structures, issuance of closed military zone orders, movement restrictions, and more. Ras ‘Ein al-‘Auja, the largest shepherding community in the West Bank, was forcibly transferred in January 2026.

Violence, destruction and access restrictions during the olive harvest

The 2025 olive harvest season was particularly harsh: 178 settler attacks on harvesters and groves were recorded, two Palestinians were killed, more than 6,000 trees were damaged, and many farmers were denied access to their groves. Formal military restrictions, combined with settler violence, effectively serve as tools for denying access to land and harming livelihoods throughout the year. Approximately 90% of agricultural families in the West Bank have lost income, while food costs have risen and food insecurity has grown.

Roadblocks and restrictions on freedom of movement

Nearly 1,000 obstacles restrict the movement of 3.4 million Palestinians living in the West Bank, causing major disruptions in their daily lives and impacting their livelihoods. There is no system in place to inform residents about changes to movement restrictions, and which roadblocks might open, when, and for how long. Movement restrictions were further tightened when the war with Iran broke out in February 2026. In the Seam Zone, which makes up about 10% of the West Bank, the military changed the entry procedures, restricting access to 95% of farmers with land within it: a serious violation of their property rights. For the third year in a row, 100,000 Palestinian workers are not permitted to work in Israel.

Annexation policy and structural changes to Israeli control

The Government of Israel is advancing a systematic policy of annexation in the West Bank through the transfer of powers over civilian management in the West Bank from the military to civilian bodies answerable to elected politicians, measures to expand Israeli control in Areas A and B in addition to Area C, seismic changes in the land regime, the establishment of dozens of settlements, the retroactive approval of unauthorized outposts, approvals for tens of thousands of new housing units, and the transfer of powers over archaeological sites to Israeli authorities. Development plans in the E1 area will bisect the West Bank and further entrench Israeli control. This is carried out in clear violation of international law and involves the extensive dispossession of Palestinian communities.

Economic crisis and impaired services

The West Bank is in the grip of a spiraling economic crisis. The unemployment rate is almost 29%, and 100,000 workers are still barred from working in Israel (some risk their lives to cross illegally); Israel is also withholding 14 billion ILS (roughly 4.8 billion USD) in Palestinian Authority tax and duty revenues. The Palestinian Authority is unable to pay full salaries to about 170,000 public sector employees; public schools have been open only three days a week for more than two years, and healthcare services have been reduced due to constraints on salary payments.

Photo by Oren Ziv Activestills

East Jerusalem

Introduction

The Government of Israel continues to advance a policy aimed at a Jewish takeover of East Jerusalem through the use of a variety of legal and bureaucratic tools. These include the administrative acquisition of land by the State, the seizure of homes and their transfer to settler organizations, and the approval and planning of extensive construction solely for the Jewish public. Additionally, the authorities systematically discriminate against the area’s hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents, the vast majority of whom are permanent residents or citizens of Israel. This includes freezing almost all planning and construction for the benefit of Palestinian citizens and residents, demolishing homes, and placing hundreds of Palestinian families under threat of eviction. About 60% of Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents live below the poverty line.

Discrimination in services and infrastructure

Residents of East Jerusalem, who make up 40% of the city’s population, continue to suffer from discrimination when it comes to access to services and infrastructure, undermining their rights to health, education, dignity, and equality. Issues include the poor water supply in the neighborhood Kafr Aqab, a severe classroom shortage, expected harm to the education system resulting from legislation banning the employment of teachers with degrees from the Palestinian Authority, and serious failures in waste removal in neighborhoods beyond the Separation Barrier.

Old City Basin

Archeology as a tool for violating the rights of Palestinians in the Old City Basin is a continuing and growing issue. Archeological activities take over spaces, sites, and assets, erasing the city’s multicultural heritage and presenting it as having significance exclusively for Jews. Digs in Silwan, the promotion of the cable car plan, and the development of the King’s Garden Park disrupt residents’ daily lives. Under cover of the war with Iran, violations of the freedom of worship for Muslims and Christians have intensified, and the erosion of the status quo on Temple Mount continues. During the war with Iran, Palestinians were barred from entering the Old City or opening their businesses. As in previous years, the Flag March saw much violence and racism.

Movement and access restrictions

About one-third of East Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents — more than 100,000 people — live on the other side of the Separation Barrier and face significant and ongoing movement restrictions that have been in place since October 2023 and intensified since the conflict with Iran began. Checkpoints, searches, arbitrary closures, and bureaucratic hurdles cut residents off from their urban hub in Jerusalem; disrupt their daily lives; and violate their right to freedom of movement, as well as their access to education, work, health services, and medical evacuation. With the exception of localized mitigations, severe movement restrictions continue.

Dispossession and settlement expansion

The Government of Israel uses a variety of legal, judicial, and bureaucratic tools to gain control of land in East Jerusalem and transfer it to the State and its institutions, or to private entities. A key tool for implementing this policy is the pursuit of settlement of land title in East Jerusalem. Since the process began, only 1% of the land whose status has been finalized has been registered in the names of Palestinian owners, while more than 80% has been registered in the name of the State or its institutions. While tens of thousands of housing units are planned for the Jewish public, construction for the city’s Palestinian public is almost completely frozen, hundreds of homes are demolished, dozens of families are forced out of their homes, and hundreds more are under threat of eviction.

Photo by Gili Meisler, ACRI

Introduction

In 2026, more than 9,000 Palestinians, some of whom are minors, were classified as security prisoners, including sentenced prisoners, detainees, administrative detainees, and detainees under the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law. They are subjected to extremely harsh incarceration conditions, violence, degradation, overcrowding, starvation, and neglect, including medical neglect. As a result, inmates have been released from custody with irreversible physical injuries. At least 103 Palestinians, including a 17-year-old boy, died in Israeli custody between October 2023 and March 2026, a record number that attests to the gravity of the situation. In addition, the sweeping ban on family and Red Cross visits remains in place. Despite these conditions, no indictments have been filed against any soldier or prison guard in relation to a death in custody, and there is only one known case in which a soldier was convicted of abusing detainees.

Deaths in military or IPS custody

At least 103 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 2023, in part due to harsh incarceration conditions, starvation, medical neglect, and violence. Details concerning the deaths of detainees are not made public and are not disclosed even to their families, while autopsies are sometimes performed without a representative on behalf of the family. The fate of hundreds of detainees from the Gaza Strip remains entirely unknown, raising concerns that the actual number of deaths is even higher. As of May 2026, no one has been prosecuted in connection with these deaths.

Incarceration conditions

Incarceration conditions for security prisoners have been officially described by the Public Defender’s Office as “inhumane.” Ninety‑three percent of these inmates are held in conditions that fall below the overcrowding standard set by the High Court of Justice. Many sleep on the floor and suffer from deliberate starvation, medical neglect, and infectious diseases. The Israel Prison Service is taking a narrow approach to the High Court ruling requiring it to improve inmates’ nutrition, and contempt of court proceedings were needed to demand compliance. The Israeli government continues to extend the Incarceration Emergency Declaration that was first issued in October 2023, which allows for massive overcrowding and inmates sleeping on the floor. It is currently in force until July 2026.

Systemic abuse of inmates

Numerous testimonies by released detainees, as well as by soldiers and medical personnel, paint a picture of systemic abuse of Palestinian inmates. Among the practices reported by released inmates are beatings, dog attacks, electric shocks, degradation, and sexual violence. Despite the abuse, no one has been held accountable. In the Sde Teiman case, five indictments for a serious, well-documented assault were withdrawn, and the defendants returned to reserve duty. Since October 2023, there has been only one conviction for detainee abuse, indicating a complete absence of enforcement and accountability.

Incarceration conditions and violence against Palestinian children

On any given month, an average of about 350 Palestinian minors are held in Israeli incarceration facilities. About half are held in administrative detention, without charges or a trial. The youngest administrative detainee is 14 years old. Most report violence during their arrest or incarceration, and many are interrogated with threats and under sleep deprivation without a parent or lawyer present. A 17‑year‑old boy died in prison due to starvation and infection, and no one was prosecuted. The military law applied to Palestinian children offers them less protection than Israeli law. Yet even this law is not properly implemented, contrary to international law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Disappearances

In the absence of a proper arrest record system, thousands of Palestinian families are left without information about their detained relatives. In 2025, HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual handled 29,000 requests to trace detainees’ whereabouts, six times the number handled in 2022. Israel has stopped providing information to the International Committee of the Red Cross and has banned it from visiting inmates, in breach of international law. The situation is particularly dire with respect to detainees from the Gaza Strip: dozens of habeas corpus petitions have yielded no information, and the fate of thousands of people last seen in Israeli military custody remains unknown.

Denial of visits

Since October 2023, access by the International Committee of the Red Cross to security inmates and incarceration facilities has been banned, along with family visits. The ban has remained in force for more than two years, despite the Gaza ceasefire. Lawyer access has been restricted as well: 52 lawyers, most of them Palestinian citizens of Israel, have been declared ineligible to enter Israel Prison Service facilities based on secret information. These measures leave many inmates with no contact with the outside world and make it more difficult to expose the abuse taking place inside incarceration facilities.

Detention and incarceration systems

More than half of the 9,000 Palestinian security inmates are held without an indictment, trial, charges or a fixed release date. Approximately 3,376 of them are held in administrative detention and at least 1,283 under the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law, which denies detainees rights afforded by international law to civilians or prisoners of war. Among the inmates are children, patients, women, the elderly, and medical staff. The detainees and their counsel are not allowed to review the evidence that allegedly justifies their incarceration.

Photo by Yossi Zamir, Shatil-stock

Shrinking democratic space

Introduction

Alongside the brutal occupation policy, inside Israel democratic systems such as the separation of powers, the judiciary, law enforcement, the free press, and civil society are under attack. The adoption of capital punishment, impunity for violence committed against Palestinians in the West Bank, selective enforcement, attempts to constrain Israeli human rights organizations and activists, and the suppression of freedom of expression and protest corrupt democratic principles and erode the space for civil resistance to the occupation.

The bill to split the role of the Attorney General

The Bill to Split the Role of the Attorney General, initiated by MK Simcha Rothman, includes a series of changes that would undermine the status and independence of the legal advisory institution. The role would become a political appointment, would render the Attorney General’s legal opinions nonbinding, and place the role under closer governmental oversight. The Attorney General plays a central role as a key gatekeeper, given the lack of full separation of powers in Israel. Weakening the role could undermine the rule of law, the fight against corruption, and the protection of human rights.

Death penalty law

In March 2026, the Knesset passed the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law after it was aggressively promoted by the coalition. The law effectively targets Palestinians, both in the West Bank and inside Israel. In the West Bank, the law prescribes, with limited exceptions, a mandatory sentence of death by hanging for Palestinians convicted of murder motivated by nationalist ideology. Settlers convicted of the same offense are exempt from this mandatory sentence. The law violates the right to life, infringes on defendants’ rights, and is contrary to international law. In May 2026, a law permitting the death penalty for defendants in the October 7 massacre was passed. The law leaves an opening for departures from procedural norms, raising concerns about rights violations in criminal proceedings.

Suppression of freedom of expression and protest

In recent years, freedom of expression and protest in Israel has come under attack. The police disperse demonstrations selectively, carry out body searches for the purpose of degrading and humiliating protesters, and photograph protesters for intimidation and deterrence. The government and the Knesset are promoting legislation to expand incitement offenses while removing oversight by the State Attorney’s Office. Universities restrict political speech, and foreign media is targeted: journalists are barred from Gaza, visas are revoked, and the renewed “Al Jazeera Law” enables the shutting down of foreign media outlets.

Targeting human rights organizations

The government continues to take steps to silence civil society organizations critical of its policies. A bill that would impose a 23% tax on donations from foreign state entities and require organizations that receive such funding to pay a particularly high fee for High Court petitions continues to be promoted. Meanwhile, bureaucratic and economic tools are used against these organizations, including vexatious complaints, unnecessary audits, and refusals by banks to transfer funds.

Photo: "Documenting Protest", Whatsapp

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Previous Reports

The Partner Organizations

Head writer: Tal Raviv O’Regan

Steering committee: : Alon Arad, Noa Sattath, Efrat Cohen-Bar

Web development: Shahaf Cohen-Zeevi

Proofreading and online version: Tal Dahan

English translation: Maya Johnston

Arabic translation: Kifah Daghash

English editor: Rachel Druck

Arabic editor: Maram Sliman

Video directing and editing: Riki Rotter

Project Manager: Gili Meisler

This report was written by 22 human rights organizations, some of which receive most of their funding from foreign political entities. Even during this period, we are proud of the support of those who believe, as we do, that the occupation is not an internal Israeli matter and who insist on preserving human rights. Lists of supporters are detailed on the websites of the organizations and on the website of the Registrar of Nonprofits.