Disclaimer: The texts and links cited in this Monthly Bulletin have been reproduced in their original form. The Division for Palestinian Rights is consequently not responsible for the views, positions or discrepancies contained in these texts.

Contents

  1. UN Palestinian Rights Committee elects new Bureau and approves Chile’s membership request
  2. Israeli Actions undermining Palestinian land rights in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem
  3. Concerns over ethnic cleansing and deliberate destruction of housing in Gaza
  4. OPT: Escalating violence, displacement, and 2026 humanitarian funding needs

I. UN Palestinian Rights Committee elects new Bureau and approves Chile’s membership request

On 3 February, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) began its work for 2026, elected the members of its Bureau and adopted its programme of work.  Presiding over the opening session, the UN Secretary-General reiterated that the “inalienable rights of the Palestinian people – including the right to self-determination – must be realised and respected.” He recalled that the New York Declaration and its annexes “provide a clear, actionable path toward a two-State solution.” Briefing the Committee, the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Representative Office in New York appealed to the international community to support the protection of the rights of Palestine Refugees and the lifting of restrictions imposed by the Israeli Government on UNRWA’s operations. Also, the request of the Government of Chile to become its member of the Committee was approved during the meeting.

Related Content:

  1. Opening of UN Palestinian Rights Committee 2026 session – Meeting Coverage (3 February)
  2. “The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people must be realized” UN Secretary-General tells the Palestinian Rights Committee (3 February)
  3. Israel almost completely destroyed UNRWA’s compound in occupied East Jerusalem, UNRWA official tells the UN Palestinian Rights Committee (3 February)
  4. Video: Gaza – Humanitarian access cannot be made conditional on political compliance, Itay Epshtain (published on 11 February)
  5. UN Palestinian Rights Committee Chair letter to General Assembly President on request from Chile to become a member of the Committee (A/80/640) (13 February)
  6. UN Palestinian Rights Committee Chair letter to General Assembly President on Ecuador’s withdrawal from Committee (A/80/645) (16 February)

II. Israeli Actions undermining Palestinian land rights in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem

On 6 February, the Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that a series of new Israeli operations and settlement plans in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem “risk seriously undermining the viability of a Palestinian state and realisation of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.”  On 9 February, the UN Secretary-General expressed grave concern by the reported decision of the Israeli security cabinet to “authorize a series of administrative and enforcement measures in Areas A and B of the occupied West Bank.” Another statement by the UN Secretary-General was issued on 16 February, condemning the Israeli Government’s decision to resume land registration procedures in Area C of the occupied West Bank.

On 18 February, the CEIRPP Bureau issued a press statement condemning Israel’s decision, stressing that “such illegal measures risk the further dispossession of Palestinian landowners and entrenchment of Israel’s unlawful control over occupied territory.” The same day, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 stated that the decision by Israel’s security cabinet “will consolidate annexation, may amount to aggression under international law and will further entrench an occupation ruled illegal by the world’s highest court.”

Simultaneously, at the 18 February Security Council monthly briefing on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs stressed that the abovementioned decision “threatens to dispossess Palestinians of their property and expand Israeli control over land in the area. Israel should immediately reverse these measures.”

More details and related content:

  1. New Israeli operations in occupied West Bank raise serious concerns – OHCHR Press Release (6 February)
  2. Statement of the Secretary-General on Israeli security cabinet authorizing a series of administrative and enforcement measures in the West Bank (9 February)
  3. UN Deputy Middle East envoy deplores Israeli measures expanding control in West Bank (9 February)
  4. UNRWA Commissioner-General on West Bank: New policies heighten instability and threaten the future of Palestinians (10 February)
  5. UN Human Rights Chief: Deepening Israeli control over Palestinian lands further violates right to self-determination (11 February)
  6. UN Secretary-General condemns the Israeli Government’s decision to resume land registration procedures in Area C of the occupied West Bank – Statement (16 February)
  7. UN Palestinian Rights Committee Bureau condemns Israeli actions undermining Palestinian land rights in the occupied West Bank (18 February)
  8. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese condemns Israeli attempts to further annex West Bank (18 February)
  9. Window for peace in Gaza not indefinite, speakers stress, urging Security Council to consolidate ceasefire, ease ‘profound’ suffering of Palestinians (18 February)
  10. UN Under-Secretary-General stresses seizing the opportunity to restore a credible political horizon in the Middle East (18 February)
  11. Joint statement of Foreign Ministers of 20 countries on recent Israeli decisions extending unlawful Israeli control over the West Bank (Non-UN Document) (23 February)

III. Concerns over ethnic cleansing and deliberate destruction of housing in Gaza

On 5 February, the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian Territory issued a statement indicating that Palestinians returning to Gaza reported “consistent pattern of ill-treatment, abuse, and humiliation by Israeli military forces.” In a report to the Human Rights Council dated 16 February, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that Israeli forces, Hamas, and other Palestinian armed groups “have continued to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, gross violations and abuses of international human rights law, and atrocity crimes.” The report also stated that the Israel forces’ conduct of hostilities in Gaza “occurred through recurrent violations of international law” and “appeared to aim at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza raising concerns over ethnic cleansing.”

In a report dated 26 February, the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing reviewed the conduct of hostilities in Gaza in relation to the destruction of housing and concluded that that the allegations described embody the concept of “domicide”, defined by the Special Rapporteur “as the deliberate, widespread and systematic destruction of housing during conflict”. The report stated that the level and scale of destruction of housing and civilian infrastructure in Gaza was “unprecedented even by the terrible standards of modern warfare since the 20th century.”

More details and related content:

  1. Israel: UN experts urge withdrawal of death penalty bill (4 February)
  2. Patterns of ill-treatment and coercion reported among Palestinians returning to Gaza (5 February)
  3. UNRWA Commissioner-General on Gaza: Denying access to journalists and aid workers perpetuates suffering (10 February)
  4. Report: Human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the obligation to ensure accountability and justice (A/HRC/61/26) – Advance unedited version (16 February)
  5. Special Procedures’ Coordination Committee condemns attacks against Francesca Albanese by State representatives: ‘Promote justice, not disinformation’ (17 February)
  6. UNRWA Commissioner-General: Warning that actions that escalate dispossession move the region further from stability (17 February)
  7. Press Release: Ethnic cleansing concerns in Gaza and West Bank amid intensified violence and forcible transfers by Israel – UN Human Rights Office report (19 February)
  8. UNRWA Commissioner-General on Gaza: New UN findings detail ethnic cleansing, famine, and systemic abuses (23 February)
  9. Domicide: Mass destruction of housing and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan and Ukraine (A/HCR/61/43/Add.3) (26 February)

IV. OPT: Escalating violence, displacement, and 2026 humanitarian funding needs

On 1 February, UNRWA Commissioner-General Lazzarini denounced the “record levels of violence” in the occupied West Bank since 2023 with more than 1,000 Palestinians killed, close to a quarter of whom are children. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on 4 February that humanitarian access constraints continued impeding aid delivery and receipt across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Moreover, on 5 February OCHA reported that so far in 2026 nearly 700 Palestinians in nine communities have been displaced due to settler attacks and about 170 Palestinians have been displaced by the demolition of homes for lack of Israeli-issued building permits. In a 5 February update, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire on 10 October 2025 until the end of 2025, 529 Palestinians were reported killed, including more than 120 children. At least 11 children have reportedly died from hypothermia this winter. On 11 February, UNRWA informed that the Israeli forces reportedly demolished an UNRWA school in Jabalia in North Gaza on 5 February.

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched its 2026 Humanitarian Health Appeal on 3 February, seeking USD 333.2 million to assist a targeted population of 2.4 million Palestinians out of 2.9 million in need of humanitarian health assistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In its 2026 Flash Appeal published on 9 February, UNRWA seeks USD 1.26 billion to assist 2.4 million Palestinians in need across the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

On 28 February, the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory issued a statement that took note of the  temporary injunction issued the day before by the Israeli High Court of Justice, which “prohibits any alteration of the existing situation concerning the registration status of several international non-governmental organizations operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and prevents any action to register rights, until further notice”. The UN and its partners urged the Government of Israel to lift restrictions that impede humanitarian operations.

More details and related content:

  1. Updates by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) 
  1. Updates by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
  2. UNOPS: UN2720 Mechanism for Gaza – Monthly Overview January 2026 (2 February)
  3. Occupied Palestinian Territory: WHO Health Emergency Appeal 2026 (3 February)
  4. Gaza patients bear the brunt of two years of conflict – WHO News Item (3 February)
  5. Palestine Situation Report #65 – Emergency Telecommunications Cluster – World Food Programme (3 February)
  6. UNICEF Nutrition Cluster Bulletin – January – December 2025 (4 February)
  7. France supports WFP’s nutrition response for families in Gaza through Government and private sector partners (4 February)
  8. UNICEF State of Palestine Humanitarian Situation Update and Humanitarian Response (5 February)
  9. EU support helps Palestine refugees in the occupied West Bank access emergency shelter (6 February)
  10. WFP Palestine Food Security Analysis – Market Monitor – Palestine, January 2026 (9 February)
  11. WFP State of Palestine Emergency Response External Situation Report #81 (9 February)
  12. WFP Palestine Emergency Response External Situation Report #82 (16 February)
  13. IOM and Muslim Charity respond to urgent shelter needs in Gaza (18 February)
  14. Gaza Shelters Flood and Storm Impact & Exposure Analysis – Imagery Analysis (20 February)
  15. WFP Palestine Emergency Response External Situation Report #83 (23 February)
  16. Gaza’s children call for the future they need – UNICEF (24 February)
  17. UNICEF Report: The Gaza We Want – Children’s voices on life, recovery and the future of the Gaza Strip (24 February)


Download Document Files: https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/20260312-February-Monthly-Bulletin.pdf
Document Type: Monthly Bulletin
Document Sources: Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR)
Subject: Access and movement, Accountability, Armed conflict, Assistance, Casualties, Ceasefire, Economic issues, Gaza Strip, House demolitions, Human rights and international humanitarian law, Humanitarian relief, Israeli settlements, Jerusalem, Land, Palestine question, Refugees and displaced persons, Settlements, Settler violence, Statehood-related, Two State solution, UNRWA, Violence, West Bank, ethnic cleansing, human rights violations
Publication Date: 12/03/2026