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Document #2139368
Amnesty International (Author)
Palestinian armed groups in Gaza held and mistreated hostages until their release after the October ceasefire, and endangered Palestinian civilians by locating military objectives in or near densely populated areas. Palestinian authorities failed to conduct independent investigations into serious violations of international law, including possible war crimes and crimes against humanity, and into violations of human rights against Palestinians. Palestinian armed individuals killed Israeli civilians, including settlers living illegally in the occupied West Bank. Intra-Palestinian violence and lawlessness surged in Gaza, enabled by Israel’s genocide. Palestinian Hamas-run forces executed civilians whom they accused of collaborating with Israel, and summarily punished others accused of offences including looting. There were reports of torture and other ill-treatment in Palestinian detention centres and prisons in the West Bank.
Parallel Palestinian authorities – Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip – continued to function in restricted areas of administration despite Israel’s assassination of most of Hamas’s senior leadership, while those who survived were in exile. The Palestinian authorities could not pay full public sector wages due to Israel’s arbitrary diversion of Palestinian tax revenues, leading to teachers’ strikes and increasing poverty. Two years of Israel’s war and genocide and 18 years of siege left Gaza’s economy in ruin, shrunk by 86% compared to 2022, according to UN Trade and Development. There had been no Palestinian parliamentary elections since 2006.
At least four new Palestinian armed groups formed in northern and southern Gaza, with Israel’s backing.
US President Donald Trump’s “Peace Plan” was signed in Egypt on 13 October by the leaders of the USA, Türkiye, Egypt and Qatar. On 17 November the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution for “peace”, without any provisions on upholding Palestinians’ human rights or ensuring accountability for international crimes. The number of UN member states recognizing Palestinian statehood reached 157.
Armed groups fired indiscriminate rockets and shells from Gaza, which did not kill or injure Israeli civilians. Until the October ceasefire agreement, they continued to hold and mistreat hostages.1
Palestinian armed groups endangered Palestinian civilians by locating military objectives in or near densely populated areas.
Palestinian armed individuals or groups killed 12 Israeli civilians, of whom seven were settlers living illegally in the occupied West Bank, according to OCHA. Hamas leaders praised and justified such attacks.
In a surge of intra-Palestinian violence and lawlessness triggered by Israel’s imposition of conditions of life that led to the destruction of the social fabric, Palestinian forces run by Hamas reported that they had executed at least 39 civilians whom they accused of collaborating with Israel, and summarily punished scores of others for alleged looting and other offences.
For example, on 11 June, Hamas news channels and independent eyewitnesses who took video footage reported that gunmen affiliated with Sahim – a militarized unit established by Hamas – abducted, tortured and killed 12 Palestinians, whom they accused of working with the US-Israeli run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. On 13 October, gunmen affiliated with Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, announced that they had extrajudicially executed eight men from the Dughmush family in Gaza City whom they accused of “collaborating with Israel”.
In December, armed groups backed by Israel summarily killed two men in Rafah, southern Gaza, whom they claimed were Hamas members.
The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), the Palestinian national human rights institution, received at least 378 complaints of arbitrary detention by Palestinian security services. On 19 November, President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree-law stating that commitment to the Palestinian Liberation Organization and its international obligations was a precondition for local electoral candidacy.
According to the Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms, 14 journalists were detained by the Palestinian police for periods ranging from two hours to two weeks during which they were interrogated about their work.
Hamas-run forces beat and briefly detained dozens of protesters at peaceful demonstrations in Beit Lahia, a town in northern Gaza, in March and April.2
The ICHR received 61 complaints of torture and other ill-treatment in Palestinian detention centres and prisons in the West Bank, mostly during interrogations. The destruction of the justice and law enforcement systems in Gaza meant that the ICHR could not collect complaints of arbitrary detention or of torture and other ill-treatment by Palestinian authorities against Palestinians in Gaza.
Palestinian authorities failed to conduct independent investigations into serious violations of international law, including possible war crimes and crimes against humanity, and into violations of human rights against Palestinians.
The Palestinian authorities cooperated with the UN Commission of Inquiry.
One in seven families in Gaza was headed by women, due to the death and imprisonment of men, according to UN Women. Due to women being disproportionately prevented from accessing aid, the increase in female-headed households periodically left tens of thousands of households without food, according to the Women’s Refugee Commission, a US-based advocacy organization. According to the Integrated Food Security Phased Classification, women and girls waited longer than men at water and aid distribution points, where they faced gendered harassment, in addition to the insecurity affecting everyone. Oxfam reported that Palestinian authorities’ programmes for improving the participation of women in decision-making were hindered by a lack of political will.
In addition to 49 hostages released between January and October, Israeli citizens Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed were released in an exchange deal on 22 February after being subjected to enforced disappearance in Gaza since 2014 and 2015 respectively.
© Amnesty International
Amnesty Report 2025/26: Zur Lage der Menschenrechte weltweit; Palästina 2025 (Periodical Report, German)
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