A group of UN experts warned March 6 that the genocide in Gaza is spilling into the West Bank as a wider war engulfs the region. The experts argue that Israeli policy is designed to coerce Palestinians to leave in both territories. The report also covers occupied East Jerusalem, where between 2021 and 2025 there have been at least 11,555 arrests amid claims of arbitrary detention, 2,386 deportation orders, and 1,732 home demolitions.

The experts also noted Israel's restriction of Palestinians' ability to participate in religious life, especially during the current holy month of Ramadan. In 2025, there were 73,871 settler incursions into al-Aqsa mosque compound. Additionally, al-Aqsa mosque has been closed to practitioners following the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The group of experts, including Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, stated:

Under the cover of an existential war against the Palestinians, Israel is accelerating measures that alter Jerusalem's demographic composition, religious character and legal status, destroying the remnants of the pluralistic fabric that Jerusalem has represented for centuries, for Muslims, Christians and Jews… What is being done to this world symbol of spiritual coexistence and shared heritage is irreversible.

The statement warned of a "de-Palestinisation" of Jerusalem.

Urging immediate international action, the statement calls on all states to refrain from "recognizing or aiding" the ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled in an advisory opinion that the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is unlawful. In the opinion, the court ruled that Israel must "cease immediately all new settlement activities, and…evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territories."

Earlier this month, Amnesty International warned that Israeli authorities have intentionally implemented policies aimed at dispossessing Palestinians in the West Bank, rendering the occupied territory's annexation "irreversible." The United Nations Human Rights Council in a new report warned that Israeli policy and settler violence in the West Bank is aimed at uprooting Palestinian communities.

The experts who drafted the warning are; Francesca Albanese, Ben Saul, Ashwini K.P., Gina Romero, George Katrougalos, Tlaleng Mofokeng, Michael Fakhri and Surya Deva. The eight are members of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. The Special Procedures are the largest body of independent experts in the UN human rights system. The experts are independent and work on a voluntary basis, not receiving a salary for their work.

From JURIST, March 7. Used with permission. Internal links added.